


Blinded by Greyscale

by tfwcapitalism



Category: MySims
Genre: ANYWAY this is probably gonna be angsty bc i have no self control, Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Homophobia, I guess????, M/M, Violence, aw shit here we go again, babeyyyyyy, bruh moment, idk i haven’t planned this through, oh yeah and, out here with that Big Gay, tra says gay rights, we got that mmmm, wlw mlm solidarity, yall know what that means
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2020-04-23 20:21:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 46,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19158289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tfwcapitalism/pseuds/tfwcapitalism
Summary: They’re pretending to be str*ight bruh moment





	1. Chapter 1

It’s not like The Royal Academy was the most open minded place to ever exist, but it was far from any kind of conversion camp. It was a good place to go to escape the judgemental glares of family members or ex-friends... as long as your secret was still locked up in the darkest section of your mind, plus, the mumbled rumours that were passed from student to student showed that there was still a long way to go before it was considered paradise to everyone. 

 

Glistening rays of sun brushed the girl’s cheeks as she dragged her feet across campus, trying but to no avail to block out the background noise of her classmates. Despite the warmth of the air, the girl still felt a consistent chill throughout her body as she continued forward, the simple task of getting to class having been disrupted by recent circumstances. It wasn’t like no other students had slipped up before... maybe her science partner had joked about their same-sex celebrity crush. Perhaps the token bookworm had so clearly fallen in love with the fearless protagonist of the book he was reading. But she wasn’t these exceptions: she was cheer captain, and she’d accidentally confessed her love for her best friend.

 

It was so cliché to have a slip of the tongue while playing Truth Or Dare of all things, but it sure as hell had happened, and there was no going back after it. She’d planned so many alternatives afterwards, but it was instantly too late to use them. Her mind kept replaying the event to the point of dizziness: how she’d just been describing her dream date, describing their knowledge and kindness and interests, taking extreme care to keep it gender neutral... and then the problem: “She’s amazing...”. She obviously tried to cover her tracks (“Haha, I mean “he’s”) but it was too late. The pieces fit together far too well. She was obviously talking about Liberty, and the members of the group had spread it like wildfire. 

 

“EY, SUMMER!” She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop her eyes from stinging at what she knew was coming. “DO US A FAVOUR AND MAKE OUT WITH THAT SNAKE GIRL YOU’RE HOT FOR AT THE NEXT PEP RALLY.” A low chorus of ignorant laughter followed this statement, and Summer grit her teeth to the point of pain, trying to resist the urge to shut them up herself. Managing to keep her cool, she increased her pace, head down, face tilted away from the group of boys to conceal the streaks of hot tears that had fallen against her will. It felt as if everyone in the school had their eyes permanently fixated on her, burning through her flesh and causing her to tense up even more. Normally, she’d have been able to keep her cool in retaliation to the abuse thrown her way, but this time it was different. She couldn’t handle the fact that the person that she cared about more than anything in the world was being dragged into the mess she had created. She felt immeasurably guilty, and a permanent feeling of nausea buried in her stomach stopped her from being able to be her usual bubbly self. After what seemed to be a painful eternity, her hand fell on the door handle to the science block. At least this wouldn’t be so bad in class.

 

It wasn’t. Of course it wasn’t: the students were under observation. But it was still there. It was definitely still there, because the whole class had shifted seats away from the cheerleader to fit in an extended amount of hateful gossip. One group was barely a meter away, but that didn’t stop them from speaking their minds.

 

“Wait, she’s really a... lesbian?” One girl began, lowering her voice as if the last word was a slur.

“Yeah. The dyke admitted it herself.” A second muttered, obviously not bothered about her use of a legitimate insult. A boy in the group sniggered quietly.

“You think she’ll ever make a move then? It’s about time we had some girl-on-girl action at this school.” 

“Ugh, Derek, don’t be gross.” The first girl muttered. “She’s still a human being, even if she is different.”

“Yeah, right. See how you think after she preys on you, Beebee.”

“Hey, I think you’d make a good couple, don’t you Taylor?” Derek joked. Taylor looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Pfft... whatever. Don’t drag Beebee down to her level.” The pair began to laugh spitefully, as Beebee’s empathetic eyes met the blonde’s, almost as to say “I’m sorry.” Summer managed to force a smile at her: “I’m used to it.” Both girls turned away, facing down at their paper, continuing to work and ignoring the whispers that kept filling the room.

 

It was a good distraction- only after she’d finished did she really begin to notice how hateful her classmates could be. As she placed her pen down, she finally began to listen to the conversations: apart from one or two regarding the assignment, they were all about her. A few were making inappropriate jokes, another few were insulting Liberty, and she definitely heard an array of graphic threats. However... there was one conversation that really stuck out to her: four boys that who were sitting across the classroom. They were talking quietly, but she could somehow make out every word they said.

 

“You’re joking.”

“No, I do!”

“Since when did you feel bad for someone?”

“Hey!”

“No, really, I’m with him on this one, man. Of all the people who’d want to help her, you’re not really at the top of my list.”

“Um, fuck off, Tim. I just don’t think it’s fair that everyone’s talking about her like that.”

“This is so out of character for you, Chaz.” 

“Look, guys, she messed up. She said so, and she’s, like, the most honest person in this school, so maybe everyone’s picking on her for no reason.”

“But if she is gay...?”

The group fell silent for a moment. 

“Th-then it shouldn’t be any of our business!”

“I’ve never seen you so worked up about something...” Tim said, resting his chin on his hand.

“Yeah, and it’s scary.” Another boy joked, glancing up from his phone.

“Oh... I know what’s going on here.” The fourth boy smirked, cocking his head, staring Summer’s defendant dead in the eye. Chaz’s face instantly went pale, and he almost seem to shrink in his seat... causing Summer’s heart to start racing... was he...? 

“You like her.” The fourth boy continued.

“Huh?” The stuntman replied, relaxing a little in posture.

“You like her! I mean, you obviously don’t want her to be gay, and I know you think she’s cool.”

“Really? How?”

“It’s Summer fucking Holiday, Chaz. Everyone thinks she’s cool, gay or not.” 

Chaz went quiet for a second and Summer swore she saw him glance at her, before running a hand through his messy red hair andshrugging.

“Fine, Luke, ya got me.”

The immediate response from the group was excited and supportive in a way that Summer had never actually seen from a group of boys before... if only she had access to that... The sudden reveal of the conversation left Summer feeling slightly downhearted. For a second there, she’d thought that it would have been possible for Chaz to maybe have been going through what she was... but now she was going to have to deal with another problem: extremely unwanted romantic gestures.

 

As the class began to pour out of the doors, Summer felt an incredible amount of relief: that was the last period, so now she was allowed to sit in her dorm and not talk to anybody for the rest of the night. It was shameful to admit, but it had become her favourite part of the day. Thinking about this did upset her- she used to be the person to make time for everyone, and they all told her that she was fun and sweet. It was still a shock how quickly these same people had turned on her. Luckily, walking back towards the dorms, the people in question were nowhere to be seen, probably gone out together or having after school study sessions. Summer sighed, silently longing to be a part of them, but kept her head down on the way back to the dorms. Once she reached them, she carefully cracked the door open, cautiously peering through to examine the location. It was mostly empty, apart from a couple of younger students and two of her classmates: Pinky and Beebee, who genuinely looked pleased to notice her.

 

“Summer!” Beebee grinned at her. “How are you doing?” All the cheerleader could manage was a small shrug.

“Feeling blue?” Pinky asked sympathetically, before sitting up straight. “Um, pun not intended.” This made Summer smile, a sense of security filling her, and she sat next to the girls in the common room. 

“I guess... I’ve just got a lot on my mind.” 

“Yeah, I’m not surprised.” Beebee said. “Um... I’m sorry about Derek and Taylor... they don’t know what they’re talking about...”

“It’s alright. That wasn’t the worst of it.”

“Oh, you poor girl.” Pinky said, bringing her hand up to her mouth. “Did... did you want to tell anybody? I think Ms. Marshall might stop them...”

“No, that won’t do anything, but... thanks. I’m fine though, it’s just a stupid rumour, it’ll die out soon enough.” Summer said, regaining a hint of her lost confidence.

“Well, if you ever want to talk to anybody, we’re here for you.” Beebee smiled at her, placing a hand gently on Pinky’s shoulder, and Summer smiled back with soft tears of gratitude forming in her eyes. Yeah, this wouldn’t be unbearable... she wasn’t completely alone.

“Thanks, guys.” She said, standing up and beginning to make her way to her room, before Pinky stopped her.

“Uh, Summer? There’s... uh... I think something in your hair?”

“What?” The cheerleader began to feel around her ponytail, and sure enough, her hand caught hold of a slip of paper that had been wedged in underneath her scrunchie. “How the hell did that get there?”

“Oh, is it a note? Oh no, it’s it more bullying? What does it say?” Beebee asked. The two girls leaned forward with curiosity as the blonde opened it, scanning it over with her eyes. 

“Huh...” 

“Well?” Beebee said, standing up and reading it aloud. “Summer I want to speak to you meet me at the fountain near the gates at 4:00 but don’t bring anybody with you hope to see you then.”

“You read that really fast.” Pinky giggled.

“There wasn’t any punctuation!” Beebee exclaimed, jokingly. “I feel a bit light headed now... are you gonna go?”

“I... I dunno... sounds a bit sketchy, doesn’t it?”

“We could come with you.” 

“Yeah, but... the note says to go alone...”

“How about we just stand really far away and intervene if it gets violent?” Beebee wondered.

“Well, that could help... but really, you don’t have to get involved.”

“Don’t be silly, we care about you Summer!” Pinky said, getting up and taking Beebee’s hand in her own. “...and we get it...” 

 

As promised, the trio of girls waited behind a wall nearby the fountain, sheltered by a colourful pattern of flowers climbing up the bricks. They kept close watch on the fountain, trying to see any sign of the notes author. Admittedly, the cheerleader wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing meeting up with this anonymous individual, but for some reason, she felt mysteriously compelled. Pinky and Beebee stayed close to her, making sure that she knew they’d be right there the whole time. It was around this time where a figure appeared from the main doors of the school and made their way towards the fountain as they’d promised, sitting on the side and kicking their legs a little impatiently.

“Is that them?” Beebee whispered.

“I don’t know, I didn’t write the note...”

“Hey, Summer, can you see who it is?”

“I think it’s...” She could make out a dark jacket and a pair of sunglasses and sighed. “Oh god, it’s Chaz.”

“Chaz? Chaz McFreely?” Beebee exclaimed. 

“Ew, what’s he doing wanting to talk to you?” 

“It’s probably something gross!”

“I think we should go...”

“No, actually, you know what? I think I know what he wants; I might as well just get this over with before it gets out of hand.”

“Really? Are you sure?” Pinky asked, lowering her voice.

“Yeah...” Summer sighed again, planning a heartfelt rejection in her mind as she proceeded towards the fountain. 

 

The moment Chaz noticed her approach was very noticeable, as his eyes lit up and he smiled at her, before quickly reverting to his previous cold composure and waiting for her to get to him.

“Hi Chaz. I assume that note was from you?” Summer said flatly.

“Yeah! I’m glad you came.”

“You should really pay more attention in english...” She mumbled.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing important. Just thinking out loud. Anyway, what did you want to see me for?”

“Right... well... um...” Oh god, this was definitely a confession of some sort. Summer had never seen The Chaz McFreely this nervous before. “So... recently there’s been a couple of rumours about you...” Summer subconsciously let out an exasperated sigh.

“Thanks, I’m aware.” Summer said. “And they’re not true.”

“Oh, ok... right.” Chaz replied, scratching the back of his head, searching for the words. He clearly hadn’t prepared for this conversation. “Well... this was just an idea, so, it’s totally up to you, but... I think we should date.”

Summer rolled her eyes, trying to avoid the boy’s hopeful expression. “Look, Chaz, I thought you might say that, and I’m sorry, I just don’t like you in that way...”

“Oh, I know.”

“Don’t take it the wrong wa- huh?”

“I know you don’t like me. And I know the rumours are true.”

“B-but... in Science, I heard you-”

“Yeah. Crazy, right? I was lying. I didn’t want them to pick on you.”

“B-but... I’m... so confused- you said you liked me?”

“Yeah... I didn’t wanna get picked on either...” 

“Chaz, what are you talking about?”

The boy took a deep breath before looking into the girl’s bright blue eyes and, with an unusual air of nervousness, told her directly:

 “I’m gay.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They’re pretending to be str*ight bruh moment

The words that just came out of the boy’s mouth took longer than Summer had anticipated to process, and even after they had, she had no clue how to react. Still, she definitely had to come up with something soon enough because his face looked slightly dejected at her silence, as if he felt like even she didn’t want to be around him.

“Y-you’re... you... seriously?” She attempted to speak, but no words she managed were ordered coherently.

“It’s not that big of a shock, is it?” The boy asked, letting his arms fall limply to his sides and tilting his head.

“Well, if I’m being honest... yes.” Surprisingly, this made him smile.

“Oh, great! That means no one else knows.”

“Hang on, I don’t... I don’t understand...”

“What do you mean?”

“Like... if... if you’re gay and I’m... a lesbian,” Summer whispered, having directly confessed it out loud for the first time. “Why did you ask me out?”

“Ah... well, I think it’s pretty easy. If me and you start dating, or, technically, pretend to be, then suddenly both of us are obviously straight as far as anyone else is concerned, people see that it was just a rumour and they leave you alone! It also keeps me safe for a bit longer, but that’s not the issue here.” Chaz explained, a somewhat proud expression on his face.

“But I thought you didn’t care about safety. I thought that was your whole thing.”

Chaz immediately went quiet. “This is different though, isn’t it, Summer?” Chaz rubbed one arm with his free hand, averting his eyes from the girl in front of him. “Stunts can’t ruin your life in the same way.” The cheerleader kept quiet as the sudden understanding of the boy’s fear of being outed began to click.

“Oh... I get it... you don’t want what happened to me to happen to you.” She said, placing her hands on her hips.

“I guess you could put it like that... but, like you said, I’m supposed to be all fearless and daring and shit, and I kinda feel like all of that’ll go down the drain if anyone finds out.” He looked up at her again. “But seriously, if you consider it, this could benefit you more than anyone.”

Neither of them said a word for a moment, but it was fairly obvious that Summer was struggling to find an argument. In all fairness, the boy was right... and she really hadn’t been happy at all recently. She couldn’t bear it if it got any worse... but there was one thing that was stopping her from agreeing before it had been cleared up.

“Why do you want to help me so much?” Summer finally asked. “Like, you barely ever talk to me and when you do you’re always kinda mean but now you’re...” Summer pressed her lips together, signalling towards him with her hand, not really able to find the right description. This question made him freeze for a second, his eyes darting to the left as he ran his hand through his hair again.

“Well... It’s just... I-I guess I...” Summer proceeded to wait for a response. “I’m... I’m sorry... I think that... in science I thought Luke was gonna out me for a second, and I don’t know why, but I was terrified...” Summer’s skeptical glare softened a little. “And it made me think “is this what she must be feeling all the time?” and I just...” He sighed, beginning to mumble. “You’re right, I guess I am just being selfish... Sorry, this was a stupid idea.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and began to turn away from her, before she grabbed him by the arm, stopping him before he could make his exit.

“I’ll do it.”

“What?”

“I said I’ll do it. I can’t take this any more, and I wouldn’t wish this on anyone else... not even you.” She said, a playful grin appearing on her face for the first time in ages. The boy’s eyes lit up as he turned back around to face the cheerleader, and ran towards her, locking her in an over-enthusiastic hug.

“Thank you! Thank you, thank you so much! This means so much to me, you have no idea!” Summer laughed as she bent down slightly to return the gesture, before another thought reappeared.

“The note...”

“What about it?”

“How the hell did you do that?”

“What? I just kinda put it in your hairband.”

“But I didn’t even notice and, uh, no offence, but you are a lot shorter than me...”

“Rude. But you were sitting down at the time and I’m getting really good at stealing Trav’s phone out of his pocket when he’s not paying attention, so I think that helped.”

“...Paper in the scrunchie. Any reason?”

“I panicked?”

Summer laughed at the bizarre event, before pulling away and looking back at the red-haired boy, who was repositioning his sunglasses and smiling up at her, before placing his arms behind his back and grinning up at her.

“Um... see you around, babe?”

“Oh. Ew, maybe we’re not there just yet.”

“Yeah, you’re right, you’re so right.”

He turned to leave again, this time waving to her with a grateful smile, that was more genuine than any the girl had ever seen before.

“I have to meet up with Tim. Bye, Summer, see you tomorrow.”

The girl didn’t reply, but waved in response and walked over to the other two girls waiting where they had promised.

“So...” Beebee started, a curious glitter in her eye. “What did he want?”

“Long story short, he’s kind of my boyfriend now.”

“WHAT?”

 

Eventually, after getting back to the privacy of Summer’s dorm and managing to calm the pair of girls out of their somewhat offended shock, Summer began to explain the stuntman’s idea to them, which definitely made them more open to the idea, yet both were still a little skeptical.

“How do you know he’s not lying to you just for you to date him?”

“Beebee, he’s not that bad, and I doubt that he’d lie about something like that. He seemed genuine.”

“But don’t you barely talk; aren’t you worried about having to spend all your time with him? I’m starting to feel like you didn’t think this through.”

“Guys, really, he’s not that bad, and literally all he’s done is offer to help me. He didn’t need to do that in the first place, but he did, okay?” Summer told them, getting slightly impatient at their cautious remarks.

“Alright, calm down, we’re just worried... but are you sure that we shouldn’t just tell anyone about the others before making decisions like this?” Pinky inquired, a soft tone in her voice that displayed her worry for the other girl. Summer looked away, slightly embarrassed at her small outburst as she replied.

“I get where you’re coming from, but I don’t want to put up with all this any more, and I just think this is the fastest way to get it to stop...” Pinky nodded with understanding: there was not changing her mind. “Besides, Chaz was really happy about this, and... Lib’s been getting grief for it too. I just... think it’d make us safer.” She placed her hands in her lap and gazed down at them silently, not entirely expecting anyone to respond.

“...I mean... if you feel like it’s the best option...” Beebee mumbled. “Can we at least help you with anything?”

The blonde’s bright blue eyes suddenly gained an excited sparkle. “Hey, how many people are in your contacts?”

 

Later that evening, when the two other girls had returned to their own dorm, Summer was contently scrolling through the abundance of messages she was receiving from her classmates after their assistance: Summer had simply requested that they message as many people as they could telling them that the rumours had been disproven. She’d argued that it couldn’t be her that told everyone, as they’d never believe her at this point, which the pair understood and cooperated with her to generate the significantly more positive response from her peers. Summer had been expecting a few of the texts she’d received, like: “Sorry for calling you a dyke” and “Makes sense, you’re too pretty to be gay” and “I always thought you could do better than him but congrats lol” (her standards for the school were incredibly low at this point), yet there was one message from an anonymous user stating: “lmao, imagine anyone liking that snake freak, let alone Summer.” Immediate shock filled the cheerleader, with a sudden sick feeling appearing in the back of her throat, completely denying that somebody could say that. She quickly deleted the message from anybody’s view, hoping that nobody else had seen it, especially Liberty herself. As if on cue, the shorter girl meekly entered the room, hardly taking any notice to the girl already there, just placed a bag on her bed and began sorting through it. Obviously, this was noticeable to Summer, as the brunette was almost always friendly and talkative with her.

“Hey, Lib.”

The other girl just nodded in response, but Summer could make out a shaky exhale.

“Oh, are you alright?”

Liberty tried to force out a cheery: “Yeah, I’m fine!” but the crack of her voice definitely took away this effect.

“No, you aren’t,” Summer sat up on her bed, letting her legs swing over the edge and tilted her head. “What’s the matter?”

Liberty stayed silent for another moment, but sat down next to Summer and buried her face in her hands. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“No, it isn’t. Did something happen?”

“I-I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable or anything.”

“No, seriously, if someone said something I want you to tell me.”

Summer felt a kind of premature anger burning across her skin at the thought of her friend being picked on: it was bad when it was just her, yes, but she wasn’t overly bothered by it. Liberty, on the other hand, was sensitive and had never done anything wrong in her life- she was the last person who deserved to be targeted.

“You know how people have been saying that stuff about you?”

“Ugh, of course. Why? They haven’t been saying it about you too, have they?”

“N-no, I mean, not really... it’s not really important, but after everyone found out that they were wrong- oh, um, I’m happy for you by the way...” Summer was a little confused due to the abrupt stop in Liberty’s story, before faking a smile and nodding for her to carry on. “... A couple of people just said stuff about how I was...” She trailed off.

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t really want to repeat it.” She whispered, her voice shaking a little again as she hunched over, biting her thumb. It was almost an automatic response for Summer to suddenly pull the other girl in and wrap her arms around her, not entirely knowing what to say at the moment, but just trying to assure the smaller girl that she wasn’t going anywhere.

“Listen, you don’t have to tell me everything, but can I at least know who it was?” She spoke softly, trying to convey both a caring yet imperative tone. Liberty shook her head, despite her face being pressed into the blonde’s shoulder.

“I don’t want anything to happen, it’s alright.”

“It isn’t, though. They’re completely horrible if they’re putting you in this state,” Summer pulled away, looking her straight in the eye. “Fine, if you really don’t want to tell me then I won’t force you, but just know that anyone who upsets you like that? They have no idea what they’re talking about. You are the kindest, smartest, funniest person I’ve ever met, and every single thing about you is amazing, and anybody who disagrees is deaf, blind and isn’t worth your time.”

Liberty let out a subtle laugh. “That nearly rhymed.”

She looked up, a solemn smile on her face, and, although subconsciously trying to convince herself she wasn’t, Summer was breathless: telling her friend that everything about her was perfect may have seemed like an empty compliment, but in this moment Summer knew how true it was. In the blonde’s eyes, she was genuinely the most gorgeous person to ever exist- even her tears were like minuscule diamonds that splashed around her eyes... and one thing was for certain:

Chaz would need to be the best fake boyfriend ever to convince even the most gullible person. She was so, so, undeniably gay.


	3. Chapter 3

Summer was awoken by the soft yellow glow of the rising sun cracking through the curtains of her dorm room. A thin strip of gold ran across her eyes as they flickered open, allowing her to observe her surroundings. Everything seemed in place, except for the fact that the bed next to her was empty. Although barely being able to comprehend the way the setting had changed, the girl did manage to notice the absence and, still slightly disoriented, stood up and made her way toward the door of their room. As she reached for the handle, she noticed that it was just slightly open already: her roommate had most likely left in some sort of a hurry without taking much notice of her actions. Slowly, filled with a combination of worry and confusion, Summer stepped into the hallway and took notice of her surroundings: it was empty... and remarkably dark. No lights were on and the blinds managed to prevent any drop of sunlight from illuminating the location. A sudden yet subtle noice came from behind the door at the end of the corridor, and squinting, a slight headache causing her to feel a little dizzy, Summer carefully made her way towards the noise’s stimulus. 

 

Just as she’d suspected, the room was occupied by the girl she was looking for; the door was unlocked, meaning that she could easily come in and observe the girls actions. She was bent over a sink, looking tired and upset and Summer heard her breathe deeply in what she assumed was frustration.

“Lib? What are you doing in here, it’s, like, 4:30?” The brunette jumped as she turned around to face the cheerleader, obviously not having noticed her come in. 

“I was... um... I couldn’t sleep... I was just getting a glass of water.”

Summer didn’t want to believe that she would lie to her, but didn’t want to doubt her best friend. Still, she kept her priorities in order.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Then what’s that?” Summer pointed at a small bag that Liberty was clutching in her hands, which she tried to shift out of the blonde’s view. 

“Oh, that’s just a couple of... it’s...” Liberty paused. “Don’t laugh at me.”

“What? I would never laugh at you, Lib. Why?” She replied, sitting down on the side of a bathtub. 

“It’s, um, it’s makeup. I kinda wanted to try something but I’m not that good at it.” Liberty’s expression seemed to demonstrate an obvious sense of shame, but Summer didn’t initially see any problem with the situation.

“Oh, you don’t have to hide it, then! If you want I could help you?” She smiled.

“Really?”

“Yeah...” She tried to stifle a yawn, carelessly rubbing one eye with her palm. “Except... maybe we can leave it for another time? Seriously, I’d love to do your makeup for you- it’ll be fun! I just... I have cheer practice today.”

“Oh, right...” Clear rejection seemed to cover the other girl’s face for a second, before she smiled. “That’s fine... you’re right. I am tired anyway.” 

“Hey, how about we do it tonight? I don’t know... practice could run late so, like, 8:30 maybe?” 

“Um, yeah! That sounds fun.”

The shorter girl took Summer’s hand, intertwining their fingers as she led her out of the bathroom back to the room.

 

Both girls lay staring up at the ceiling, intending to at least get one more hour of sleep before having to get up, but it seemed like some topics of conversation were deemed more important.

“What are you doing today?” Liberty whispered, her soft voice still managing to fill the room.

“...Um... I was gonna meet up with Chaz, I think he want to hang out. I’m not sure what we’re doing though.”

“Oh, that’s nice...” Neither said a word for a moment. “Um... What’s it like? I mean, dating somebody? Having a boyfriend?” 

“I’m not sure yet, Lib. It’s only been a day- actually, less than that, hasn’t it? I guess I’ll find out later.” The brunette sighed.

“I wish I had a boyfriend...”

The silence in the room lingered for a second too long.

“...You do...?”

“What, you think it’s unrealistic too?”

“Wh- no, it’s just- wait, “too”? What are you talking about?” Summer asked, accidentally raising her voice a little and lifting her head to turn to her friend.

“Nothing... it just... it just slipped out. Sorry.”

Summer lay back down again without replying and closing her eyes, before one last question crossed her mind.

“Liberty?” A tiny hum could be heard in response. “Why are you suddenly interested in makeup?” It was obvious that Liberty was attempting to structure an answer the best she could, and even then it took her a while to reply and the words were barely conceivable:

“I... I wanna be as pretty as you...” 

This was the final statement that left the cheerleader breathless, staring into space and lost in thought. What did she mean? She was literally the cutest person Summer had ever met... did she genuinely think of herself as anything less? ...Was this what she was upset about yesterday? There was definitely something going on, and Summer desperately wanted to help her: after all, she loved Liberty more than anything, and mentally vowed if anyone dared say a bad word about her, she wouldn’t let them get away with their actions... though not entirely sure how to stop it. All she really wanted for her friend to be happy. Needless to say, the ideal extra hour passed before Summer had a chance to use it to her advantage.

 

“Woah. Summer, you look awful.” The person’s initial reaction was less than complimentary.

“Thank you,” The cheerleader replied coldly, her hand propping up her head. “I’m exhausted. I didn’t get much sleep last night.” 

“Aw, that sucks...” He said, sitting down in the desk next to hers. “Why not?”

“I’ve just had a lot on my mind, Chaz.”

“Anything important?”

“Um...” The cheerleader placed her forefinger and thumb to her forehead in consideration. “I’m just worried about someone.”

“Oh? What’s wrong?”

“I think... I don’t know, but I think she might be getting picked on...” Summer averted her eyes, lowering her voice in a clear expression of shame. “‘Cause of me.”

“Well, maybe it’s not as bad as you think? It’ll probably just die out soon enough.”

“How can you be so sure? What if it doesn’t?” Summer asked, clearly sceptical of the boy’s reassurance.

“I mean...” A hint of remorse dashed across his face as he averted his eyes. “I... kinda used to pick on Travis, right?” Summer raised her eyebrows. “Well, we’re fine now! It’s all good.”

“Yeah, but you only stopped because you realised you were in love with him.” A playful grin appears on the cheerleader’s face as she watched his response.

Chaz’s face became flushed as he began tripping over his protests.

“N-no I... What are you even... Don’t... Don’t be ridiculous...”

“Oh my God, you  do !” Summer gasped, growing visibly excited, her smile widening and her eyes lighting up as the boy, exasperated, placed his head on the desk in front of him. It was obvious that he couldn’t deny it at this point. “I was joking, but, oh my god, thats so cute.”

“Shut up.”

“Are you gonna ask him out?”

“That’s-”

“Oh, you two would be so cute together!” 

“Yeah, well, at least I didn’t out myself because of it!” He said, sitting up again, flustered frustration in his eyes. 

“Hey!” Summer was clearly taken aback by this personal response. The excitement in her face died down as other students began to fill up the classroom and a low bustle of voices drowned out the pair’s little feud.

“Speaking of outing, this whole thing is supposed to stop it from happening, not speed up the process, so shut it.” Chaz muttered again, his voice lowered as the large crowd of people caught his attention.

“Ok, ok!” Summer replied, leaning towards him. “You seriously need to calm down, though. It’s not gonna happen, I swear. Starting from now, I’m 400% heterosexual. Promise.” She smiled at him, one hand propping up her face and the other reaching out, placed over the boy’s hand.

“...Why are you doing that?” He whispered.

“It’s what straight people do.”

“...Gross.”

 

A definite alteration had occurred in the school after the false relationship had become known. Most of Summer’s friends had apologised to her (not particularly because they felt bad, just that their assumptions were wrong) and though the girl was reluctant, she did her best to forgive and forget for now. Unfortunately, there was still a consistent worry stuck in the back of her mind- she hadn’t seen Liberty so far all day, and it was quite late in the afternoon by now, which wasn’t exactly comforting. Normally she’d see her walking down corridors or in class, but for some reason she never seemed to show up. Admittedly, this would probably have been harder to deal with without anyone constantly by her side. It was uncharacteristic, sure, but Chaz was actually being somewhat helpful.

“I mean, it’s not unlikely that she got called in to a teacher’s office or something.”

“Yeah, but  all day?  That’s a little unlikely, you have to admit.”

“I guess... but she could be in the library or something? Maybe she just goes back to the dorms to get stuff.”

“You’re right... I just don’t... I don’t know...”

“I doubt she’s been getting picked on for the entirety of the last 6 hours. Even Derek would be bored of it by then.”

“She might be hiding though. I don’t want her to feel like she has to hide- I want things to go back exactly how they were.”

“They can’t though, can they? ...Hey, what if you  did see her today? Maybe you just didn’t notice or something?”

“I-I... maybe?” 

“See, I’m sure she’s ok. You’ll be able to ask her when you get back to your dorm anyway.” The girl nodded, trying to maintain a reasonable state of mind but still expecting the worst. “Anyway... don’t you have cheer practice now? That might take your mind off of it.”

“Oh, I completely forgot,” Summer sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead. “Yeah, I should probably go to that.” She added, before pausing and glancing at the boy. “Do you... wanna come watch?” It was fairly obvious that Chaz wasn’t over-enthusiastic to comply, but he held his hands behind his back and gave the cheerleader a strained grin.

“I mean... it’s not the most extreme thing, but I’m supposed to be your boyfriend, aren’t I?”

“You’re really bad at it, but yeah.”

 

After being dragged to the large field at the back of the school to spectate the rehearsal, Chaz was sitting on one of the many empty benches, not even remotely trying to pretend to be enjoying himself. His elbows were placed on his knees, one arm propping his head up and the other grasping his phone. Even from the significant distance away, out of the corner of her eye Summer could see the smile on his face and immediately knew who he was texting. For a reason she wasn’t exactly sure of, she felt immensely happy at the sight of him, before realising that if he acted like this a lot it might sabotage their plan. She shook her head, ridding herself of this worry before turning to her cheer squad. 

“Ok, that last run was good, but how about at the end we add something special?” She suggested, placing one hand on her hip.

“Like what?” Beebee tilted her head as she awaited the girl’s response.

“How about a... um...”

“*Browsing “cheer routine” category*... I WOULD SUGGEST A BACKFLIP OF SOME SORT.”

“Oh, good idea, Makoto.”

“Pfft, we’re really gonna go with something that basic? Where are your  standards , peasants?”

“Well then, what do you wanna do, Esma?” 

Her response was delayed and muttered. “...Backflip.”

“Then it’s settled!” Summer grinned with enthusiasm. “I think Makoto should give one of us a boost...”

“Why can’t I do that? I’m the best here!” Esma demanded furiously. Summer lowered her voice.

“I’ve seen her lift a  car.” Esma scoffed, but didn’t reply. The group continued to plan the move, their voices merging into a rumble of excitement. Chaz kept his eyes glued to his screen, oblivious to his surroundings. The individual moving to sit next to him didn’t catch his attention until she spoke.

“Not very good at this het business, are you?” The boy jumped, almost dropping his phone at the unexpected statement. 

“H-how do you know about that?” He asked as a nervous chill ran down his spine: they couldn’t have been found out already, right? The girl laughed before explaining.

“Summer told me, don’t worry,” She turned to the group. “It’s fine, I’ll keep it secret. My girlfriend’s in that group anyway.”

“Oh, who is...” The girl signalled towards Beebee, who was giggling, clumsily attempting a handstand. “If you really want people to believe you, you should probably pay attention to yours as well.” Chaz’s eyes shot up to the blonde girl in the group, who was being lifted by a remarkably small individual and maintaining impeccable posture. He leant forward a little, his attention suddenly averted from the screen as he watched the group, somehow captivated. The amount of time he’d been lacking focus became an immediate regret to him as the girl was tossed into the air and executed an almost perfect flip, finishing off by landing into the splits, clearly not bothered by the turf scratching her legs.

“Woah-”

“Yeah, really good, isn’t she?” The girl smiled, looking at him with smugness in her eyes. The boy didn’t reply. “Anyway... if I know Summer, that’s not gonna be good enough for her; go compliment her or something, you’re her boyfriend.” 

Understanding that the girl was just joking with him, Chaz grinned.

“Okay, okay, I will, calm down... uh...”

“Pinky.”

“Right. Ok, thanks.” He made his way across the field towards Summer as the group began to disband; the girl looked up at him as she brushed the grass off her skirt.

“Well, you were invested in that, weren’t you?” She smirked, folding her arms.

“I mean... I liked the last bit...” Chaz replied. “Did you really just come up with that on the spot?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t that great, but-”

“Are you serious? It would take me weeks to get that right.”

“Don’t exaggerate.” The cheerleader laughed, starting to walk away from the field, signalling for the boy to follow her.

“I’m not! Hey... if you want I could help you practice?”

“How?”

“I don’t know, I could do that lift thing that other girl was doing.”

“Trust me, you couldn’t.” Summer wasn’t sure if he was aware of Makoto’s abilities (or reason behind them) but figured it was best to stop him before he got reckless.

“...Ok don’t laugh at me, I thought it was really extreme and I... I kinda wanted to...” He glanced at the girl, who was simply waiting for him to finish. He lowered his voice slightly. “...I wanna try and do that.” Summer disregarded his request, letting out a snicker. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to... Are you serious?”

“What, it looks fun!”

“I mean...”

“I wanna show Travis. I don’t know why. Would it impress him? Do you think it would impress him?”

“Absolutely not.” Summer grabbed his wrist, leading him back to the centre of the now empty field. “But we’re gonna do it anyway. This is a really bad idea, are you ready to possibly break your spine?”

“Hell yeah!” Chaz replied, much more enthusiastic than he should be.


	4. Chapter 4

Obvious to everyone but the pair themselves, Summer and Chaz had been on the playing field for far too long, and due to their obliviousness, they had failed to notice the sky becoming darker: not that it would have convinced them to leave. Not entirely sure why, Summer was enjoying herself far more than she had been with her cheer squad. Maybe it was the lack of pressure or need for perfection, or maybe it was the hilarious appeal of throwing Chaz face-first onto the grass. Whatever it was, Summer managed to forget about everything that had been happening in the past week, at least for the moment. Surprisingly to the girl, Chaz was displaying a remarkable amount of resilience, picking himself up off the turf with a somewhat childish grin. 

 

“I nearly had it that time, didn’t I?” He asked, his eyes sparkling with pride.

“I cannot emphasise how incorrect that was.” 

“Oh...”

“Do you wanna do it again?”

“Yes!” The boy ran over to Summer, who put her hands out, letting him secure his foot in the right position and place his hands on her shoulders for balance. Carefully, both of them stood up straight (as they could) and tried to focus on the goal. 

“You really think this’ll make Trav fall in love with you?” Summer joked.

“Absolutely. On three.”

The cheerleader began to quietly count, and when reaching the end tried her best to throw the boy to an appropriate height. Every other time they’d tried it, Chaz had under rotated, meaning that he landed almost directly on his head (he insisted he was fine, but his glasses ended up cracked). Summer was subconsciously excited to see if it would happen again, even though she wouldn’t admit it. This time, however, it seemed as if he’d finally gained some sort of experience and actually managed to land on his feet- before immediately tripping and falling on his back. This didn’t stop him from cheering.

“I did it!”

“Eh...”

“Yeah, I did! How did it look, was it extreme?”

“You looked a bit like an idiot, but you’re getting there.” Summer smiled at him, then the setting finally caught her attention. The sky had become a warm shade of gold, fading into a soft pink and faint navy. “Oh wow... what time is it?”

Chaz pulled out his phone from his pocket and immediately let out an exasperated sigh. 

“What?”

“My screen’s cracked.”

“What? You didn’t take it out of your pocket?”

“No, I thought it would be fine!”

“Oh come on, it happened with your glasses, why are you worried now?”

“I have backup sunglasses...” He shoved it back into his pocket. “It 8:36, by the way.”

“Seriously? Oh, wow, okay,” She was hit with the sudden remembrance of her promise to Liberty and ran to pick up her things that she’d left on the side of the field, before making her way back to the dorms. “I’m gonna go, sorry, it’s just I wanted to be back by now.”

“That’s fine, uh, see you tomorrow?” 

The two just waved at each other before Summer ran off, leaving Chaz to pick up his broken glasses and walk back on his own. A cold wind suddenly hit the back of his neck, causing him to shiver, pushing him along at a faster speed. 

 

It didn’t take too long before he had arrived at the boy’s dorms, and it was a relief to him to escape the drop of the temperature outside. A small group of boys were sat in the common room, huddled around a TV; their attention was drawn to the stuntman but no reaction was initiated other than a sideways glance. This didn’t irritate him- if anything it was a convenience. He thought to himself as he walked up the stairs how he’d rather just get to his dorm and see the person he wanted to see. Once he’d reached the door, he threw it open and saw his roommate lying on his bed, blocking out the world with the help of his phone.

“Tardis!” The stuntman exclaimed.

“It’s Travis.”

“Guess what! I broke my phone again!” The blonde looked up at him with obvious shame in his expression.

“Seriously? I only helped you fix it a week ago!”

“I was learning how to do a backflip and I forgot to take it out of my pocket,” Chaz explained, pulling the device out of his jacket for the other boy to examine. Travis sighed as he put his own phone down and carefully took Chaz’s. 

“I’m not your personal phone repair store, you know,” He mumbled as Chaz sat down on the bed next to him and shrugged. “At least it’s just a few cracks... good thing it’s not shattered completely...” He leant over to grab a box from under his bed and pulled it up next to him. It took him a few moments of rummaging to find the tools he was searching for, and, almost automatically, began to repair his careless roommate’s broken screen.

“Thanks, man.”

“It’s no problem. This is actually good for when I break my screen: good practice, you know? Although I might have to start charging you if you do it again.”

“Ugh, fine. Makes sense,” He stopped talking and simply watched the other boy, fighting the urge to rest his head on his shoulder. “Hey, who was that you were texting? Anyone important?”

“Oh, not really. Just this tech club group chat thing.” 

“Lame.”

“Do you want me to fix this or not?” Travis asked him, pausing for a moment with a small smirk on his face.

“You wouldn’t leave a phone half repaired, it goes against all your morals.” Chaz teased him, to which Travis shook his head in defeat and fixed his eyes back onto the phone. 

The room was filled with a comfortable silence as Chaz watched the other boy carefully, observing the care and precision he put into the task. His face was blank, as if it was second nature to him, and his obvious focus was remarkable. In some ways, this was why the stuntman thought so highly of him: to have perfected such a monotonous task to the point of not considering it a big inconvenience took patience and a large amount of care- although he would never tell him that. Thinking about the boy’s attributes made it more and more difficult to resist leaning on him as he worked, or at least to just inch slightly closer to the boy. Despite the fact that he intended to stay closeted for as long as possible, there was no denying that he liked him. A lot. Subtly shifting from a childish smile to a thoughtful frown, Chaz began to think how bad the consequences could actually be... it might be different for him than Summer? Maybe not... but he supposed it would be better to just get it over with, and Travis wouldn’t tell anybody... or at least, he was fairly sure of it.

“Hey, Travis?” The shorter boy began, his voice a lot softer than usual. The blonde simply hummed in reply. Chaz began to panic, concealing it to the other person in the room. Perhaps straight up talking about how he felt was a little too direct... it was probably best to just... start out more simple.

“I-I’m...” The stuntman found himself frozen, unable to say what he really wanted to. Travis, lowered the phone onto his lap to indicate his undivided attention. This was still too soon.  “Uh, heh, sorry, I forgot what I was gonna say.”

“Oh. Okay. Well, here’s your phone, dude,” Travis carefully passed it back to him. “Please try to keep it intact for the next month at least.”

“I can’t make any promises.” Chaz replied, putting the failure of a conversation behind him as quickly as it had began. It wasn’t like this was the first occurrence of that idea: he’d tried to confess at least 20 times by now.

“Ok, well, I just have to get something, I’ll be back in a sec.” Travis got up, smiling at Chaz as he left him alone. Once the boy had gone, Chaz walked over to his own bed and fell face-first onto it, letting out an over-dramatic sigh. 

“For Gods SAKE.” His yelling was luckily blocked from the rest of the dorms by the pillow his face was buried in. For some reason, he simultaneously felt like he could and couldn’t trust his roommate with a secret like that: sure, he wouldn’t go out of his way to hurt anyone, but he had a massive social circle, and if he had a slip of the tongue it would be Summer all over again. It was just getting harder to keep it.

 

His attention was averted by the slight buzz of his phone, causing him to turn away from the pillow and look at the screen. As he expected, Summer’s name appeared on the notification

 

**S: hru? is your phone alright?**

 

Somewhat reluctantly, Chaz began writing out a reply.

 

**C: i’m fine. trav fixed it for me**

**S: ofc**

 

The boy paused, considering if he should make her aware of the almost-situation he was just a part of. 

 

**C: Dont get mad**

**C: I might have nearly ruined our plan**

**C: i tried to come out to him**

 

He held his breath as he waited, and luckily the reply soon followed 

 

**S: ffs**

**S: did you?**

**C: no i changed my mind**

**S: lmao**

**S: if it makes u feel better i called lib the most beautiful person in the world at least 6 times in the past 3 minutes**

**C: is she ok???**

**S: yeah she just stayed in today cause she wasn’t feeling great**

**S: she’s fine now**

 

For proof, in some way, Summer sent the boy a picture of her and Liberty with their arms around each other, grinning at the camera with smudged eyeliner all over their faces.

 

**C: a look**

**S: yeah we were doing makeovers but i messed up so we just started messing around**

 

“Is that Summer?” 

Chaz jumped. Travis was back on his bed, looking at the stuntman and smirking.

“Oh my God... I didn’t hear you come in...” He looked back at his phone. “Yeah, it is.”

“Oh cool! Is Lib with her?”

“Uh, yeah,” he hesitantly showed him the picture. 

“Aw.”

“Why do you care?” He asked, before pausing with embarrassment. “Uh, that came out wrong.”

“Oh, I dunno. I just haven’t seen that much of her recently. Like, we’re not in the same classes anymore so I can’t really ask her about everything that’s been going on...” Chaz didn’t reply. “I guess I just wanna make sure she’s alright.” He smiled. “She looked like she was alright in that picture, though. That’s good.”

“Yeah...”

There was a pause in the conversation. Chaz wasn’t sure if he should say anything or keep quiet, and even if he made the decision to talk, it wasn’t like he’d be able to think of anything to say. Luckily, his roommate made the decision for him.

“I miss hanging out with her. She’s actually kinda cute...”

There was no way that Chaz could reply to that- at least any way that wouldn’t raise suspicions... Instead he just nodded at the blonde, who was obliviously texting on his phone, and tried to convey a supportive tone.

“You really think so?” Chaz asked through a small but painfully forced smile.

“Yeah! And she’s got her snakes- that’s so cool. And she’s funny and sweet and-” Chaz just kept himself from muttering how he’d heard all this before, except this time it felt a bit like an attack. “You know... I think I might ask her ou-”

“NO!” Immediately, the boy froze, realising what he’d done. There was no way out of this now. 

“What?”

“...I-I didn’t... I just...” Chaz began searching for any possible excuse for his behaviour other than “I’m gay for you”, but it was a lot more difficult than he expected. Travis’ expression was impatient and somewhat offended, and if he didn’t come up with something as quickly as possible it wouldn’t look great for them. 

“L-Liberty...” He began, completely improvising with a panicked tone. “I’ve actually been talking to her... ‘cause, y’know, Summer, and...”

“Wait, does she have a boyfriend already?”

“...Yes?”

Travis sighed, letting himself fall back into his bed, placing his phone on the table next to him. “Well, that ended fast.”

“Yeah... sorry, man. I’m not actually sure who it is though, I think it might be one of those “other school” situations,” Travis’ face lit up a little. “I still wouldn’t get involved though.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I wouldn’t wanna embarrass myself or anything.”

“No problem.” Chaz replied, lying through his smile, having embarrassed himself. 

 

It was clear that Summer wasn’t overall too pleased with the incident that had just unfolded.

 

**S: this whole thing was your idea how do u keep ruining it????????????**

**C: i said i was sorry i didn’t mean to**

**S: i can deal with you making gay jokes every 5 mins but i cant believe youd go and throw my best friend into a fake relationship too**

**S: just leave her out of this. she’s been through enough alright**

**C: i know. i will**

 

The girl refused to reply any more, which was completely expected by the boy. As Travis had fallen asleep by now, there wasn’t really anything to do but think to himself, at which point he began to understand how much Liberty really meant to the cheerleader. Looking over to the bed on the opposite side of the room, he pushed his own feelings aside and wondered if he really did the right thing. His conclusion was obvious: definitely not. Probably not even for him.


	5. Chapter 5

To the relief of most students, the next morning was the beginning of the weekend, and most of them took the opportunity to leave the campus and do their own thing. Usually, Summer would be up at the crack of dawn to go out with her friends, but of course that was something she now felt differently about as well. She sat up in her bed, the room being dimly illuminated by sunlight that the curtains had failed to conceal, stretching and trying to wake herself up to prepare for the day she wasn’t entirely sure what to do with. She did have some homework to catch up on... that could be a useful thing to tackle. Her eyes darted to her phone, and she picked it up with the intention of checking the time, but her attention got drawn elsewhere: the screen was full of apologetic messages from Chaz, which didn’t exactly make her too happy. She understood that the boy just panicked and made the wrong choice, but she did not want Liberty to be dragged into anything. Annoyed, she placed her phone back on the table sitting next to her bed, and her eyes fell on to the sleeping figure of her roommate. Knowing her, it’d probably be a while until she woke up. Summer got up and ready as quietly and cautiously as she possibly could as to not disturb her, and quickly scribbled a note to Liberty before grabbing a bag of study supplies and heading to the library. 

 

As she had expected, the building was close to empty in exception for a few students scattered around the tables and the librarian, Elmira. Summer gave her a friendly smile. She received an icy glare in return, probably due to the distraction from a riveting book about pigs. She sat down at a table close to the wall, and managed to focus, her attention fixed on the work in front of her. At least... for the first ten minutes. Before long, the cheerleader began to subconsciously plan possible ways the rest of the day could go: she and Liberty could go somewhere together, it would be nice to spend time with her. Maybe she could go and talk to Chaz- he’d apologised at least, and it’s not like this was the worst thing he’d ever done. Besides, she still needed to work on that backflip, and watching the boy fail tremendously actually gave her a couple of tips regarding what not to do under any circumstances. Her train of thought was interrupted by another girl sitting down to join her. 

“Hi, Summer.” 

“Oh! Hey, Pinky. What are you doing here?”

“Uh, not much. I have work to do but it doesn’t involve that much blue so I think I’ll just do it later.“ Summer grinned.

“Responsibility at its finest,” Summer tried to simultaneously continue her work and the conversation. “I take it Beebee’s not around, then?”

“Nope. She’s gone out shopping with a couple of her friends. They did ask if I wanted to come but if you go out with them it lasts, like, fifteen years,” She rested her head on her hand. “How’s everything going with Chaz?” Summer paused.

“Um... Well...” She wasn’t entirely sure of what to say. “If I’m being honest I’m kinda mad at him...”

“Why?”

“It’s kinda dumb, but he almost outed himself and now apparently Liberty has a fake boyfriend... at least, that’s what Travis was told.” 

“Cool. I have never been more confused in my life.” Pinky said with a puzzled expression. “When did Travis get involved in all of this?” 

Summer sighed, placing her pen on the table. “Ok, don’t tell him I said this, but Chaz has it bad for him.”

“No!”

“Yep. And it’s annoying. He obviously can’t think straight around him and then he’ll end up doing something dumb.”

“Well... I guess he can’t think straight at all...” Pinky joked, trying to hide her laughter. “He should take this more seriously though. He does know that he’s not the only one at risk if you get found out, right?” The cheerleader went quiet for a moment, before picking up her pen again and continuing to work.

“Yeah... wow... when you say it like that it sounds, like, really dangerous,” A nervous laugh followed this statement. “I suppose I should give him a break though... I mean, I didn’t really do that good of a job hiding anything. That’s what got us into this whole mess...”

Pinky nodded, resting her elbows on the desk. “Speaking of which, where’s Lib?”

“Oh, she’s still asleep. I left her a note so she knows where I am- I wanna meet up with her later. I was thinking we could go to the boardwalk together or something... if she wants to, that is.”

“Sounds fun!”

“Yeah...” Summer closed the book, and began placing everything back into her bag with care. “I think I might get going now, actually. Nice talking to you.” She got up, smiling at the girl, who waved to her as she left the library, making her way back to the dorms where she’d left her phone.

 

Liberty was still asleep by the time she arrived. Despite hoping to get out later, Summer wasn’t too annoyed with the other girl... after all, it gave her an opportunity to really admire the perfection of her roommate- especially with the silver strips of light shining on her. Summer smiled as she picked up her phone, reluctant to draw her eyes away from the other girl, but needing to do so anyway. Chaz had left a dozen more messages while she was in the library, which wasn’t entirely expected by the cheerleader (he always seemed so distant when she used to see him around the school). It was upon closer inspection of the texts that Summer drew her conclusion: he was scared of her “breaking up” with him. The girl rolled her eyes, running her hand through her hair, out of its usual ponytail and left to rest on her shoulders. 

 

**S: i won’t break up with you chaz**

**S: calm down**

**S: its fine, i kinda understand more anyway**

**S: just don’t do it again**

 

She placed her phone back onto the table, screen down, not entirely willing to converse with the boy. For some reason, forgiving him for his slip-up was about her limit at the time. It was at this point where she noticed the girl in the opposite bed beginning to stir, before sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Summer smiled at her as she looked over.

“Good morning.”

“Oh, hi Summer,” Liberty replied, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, rubbing her eyes. “What are you doing today?”

“Well, I thought that, maybe, we could go to the beach together? I mean... if you want to, that is...” Liberty’s face lit up.

“Yeah! That sounds great, I’d love to! Just give me a minute to get ready, I won’t keep you waiting.” She said, quickly getting up and grabbing a few things before leaving the dorm to get to the bathroom.

“Oh, we don’t have to go immediately-” Summer tried to protest, but Liberty was already out of earshot. “Well, at least I know she’s enthusiastic.” The girl smiled to herself, before picking up her phone once again. She’d already gathered everything she would possibly need so there wasn’t really much to do while she waited. Her reluctance to communicate with Chaz had faded, which was good considering his was nonexistent. 

 

**C: tysm**

**C: are u there summer?**

**C: ur not still still mad at me**

**C: ???**

**S: dont be so clingy**

**S: i’m not mad at u ok**

**S: but don’t text me for a while i’m going out w lib**

**C: ok cool**

**C: don’t do anything id do**

 

It was with the arrival of this message that Liberty walked back into the room, wearing a yellow dress with her hair styled into her signature braids. Summer smiled at her, somewhat excited.

“You look adorable!” Liberty giggled in response, looking down and shyly fiddling with the hem of her dress. Summer stood back up, leaving her phone on her bed. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” The girl replied, taking the cheerleader by the hand, encouraging her to walk alongside her roommate. Summer hoped that she couldn’t feel her hand heating up- with just that action, she’d become a flustered mess.

 

It didn’t take an obscene amount of time to reach the boardwalk on the train, much to the girls’ relief (even though the ride had been calm and enjoyable): they were hoping to make the most of their day before having to leave. Summer walked in front of the other girl, leading her in a way, down the wooden steps of the boardwalk and waiting patiently when she reached the bottom. Liberty linked arms with the blonde, looking around. 

“Is there anything you wanted to do?” Summer inquired, tilting her head with a smile, open to any suggestion.

“Well... I can’t really think of anything really, but I’m just glad to spend the day with you,” When the cheerleader didn’t reply, she became slightly concerned. “Are you ok?”

Summer nodded, but, with her head turned in the opposite direction to conceal the red shade of her face, it was difficult for Liberty to notice. “I... I guess we could go look at... um... there’s...” Summer desperately tried to regain her composure, but her lovestruck state caused her words to come out as nervous splutters. 

“Yeah... I guess it is hard to make a decision,” Liberty replied, blissfully ignorant. “Oh! There’s this café I went to with Makoto this one time, I wouldn’t mind going there again...” Summer stopped tensing her shoulders as she let out an exhale, disappointed for allowing herself to slip up like that but glad that she wasn’t required to make any more of a fool of herself. Turning back to face the girl, the warm flush of her cheeks beginning to fade, she nodded in agreement with a smile as she allowed her to lead the way. On the way, Summer began looking around: the beach was thankfully quite empty for a warm day like this one, but it was rather early, most people would probably be coming down later if any time. Actually, the cheerleader felt like this was for the best... less people would be here to witness any mistakes she made. Despite the stuntman’s best efforts she wasn’t entirely certain that the whole fake relationship thing with Chaz would keep them shielded- especially when she looked at Liberty, her feelings were definitely getting worse. She spent the rest of the journey with her eyes shot at the ground as a thoughtful expression was fixed on her face... maybe she could just try and kid herself that she wasn’t so infatuated with her...

 

“Here it is! I thought I’d forgotten where it was...” The girl’s excited announcement snapped Summer out of her worried trance and look up at the building in front of her. It was smaller than anything around it, and was decorated with an abundance of ribbons and plants. It was definitely something Liberty would like.

“Aw, it looks nice!” She turned to her friend with a warm smile. “I can see why you’d like this place, Lib.” Liberty grinned as she made her way inside, Summer following closely behind, happy to finally be able to catch up. After they’d ordered and sat down, the cheerleader silently stared at the table, tracing the top of her cup as she pondered the most appropriate way to open the conversation she wanted to have. 

“Lib?” They looked up at each other. “I don’t really wanna ruin the mood but... can I ask you something?” Liberty went quiet, the light from her eyes faded, yet she maintained her smile. 

“Um, like what?”

“I know you’re gonna deny it, but I know you haven’t been doing great recently...”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Liberty laughed, averting her eyes and twirling a strand of her hair round her finger.

“Liberty...”

She turned, allowing her eyes to meet Summer’s own, and her cheerful demeanour began to crack. “It’s nothing.”

“No, you were gonna tell me something the other day, weren’t you? What’s going on?” Liberty sighed, resting her head on her hand. 

“It’s... It’s stupid, really, but it’s...” She looked up again. “You know Rob?” 

“Ugh, unfortunately.”

“Right, well, he’s in my Science class, and... well... after that whole gay thing came out he started talking about how I... wasn’t... good enough for you...” Her voice trailed off at the end, but she didn’t pause her explanation. “Like, he was saying how he was surprised you could even stand being my friend and... after you got with Chaz it go so much worse...”

“What- worse? How?” Summer could hardly believe what she was being told.

“Um... kinda like... boasting. Getting his friends together and saying stuff like “oh I knew it! She can’t stand you, she’s just your friend out of pity, who’d wanna go out with someone like you?” and I know it isn’t true because you always tell me that you like hanging out with me and stuff but... I don’t know anymore...” She looked down at her hands. “Summer?” She whispered.

“...Yeah?”

“It’s not true is it?”

“What?!” The girl was taken aback by this question: obviously it was fake. It was ridiculous to even think of something like that... but Summer obviously couldn’t comfort her in the truthful way- a watered-down version would have to do for now... it’d be better than losing her forever at least. She got up and moved over to Liberty’s side of the table, and, gently grasping the other girls shaking hand, tried to reassure her.

“Of course it’s fake, you can’t listen to him, ok? He doesn’t mean it.”

“But he’s nice to everyone else... How do you know?”

“B-because...” Summer felt her face heat up: she could only think of one thing to say. God, she hoped Liberty would see it as platonic. “I love you, Lib. I love you so much: you’re funny and sweet and clever and you’ve always been there to support me, and I know I’m not the only person who thinks it because... Jesus, who wouldn’t?” The brunette’s eyes lit up again, and Summer placed her hands on her shoulders. “I mean it... you’re so amazing, Lib. I’m so glad I know you... and hey, if Rob ever does anything to you again, let me know,” She paused. “I don’t know what I’ll be able to do... but I can promise I’ll try and make you feel better.” 

Neither said anything for a moment, but in a sudden expression of gratitude, Liberty wrapped her arms around the other girl’s neck, which Summer didn’t even hesitate to return. 

“I love you too...” Liberty mumbled, burying her face into Summer’s shoulder, as the blonde smiled sadly and hugged her tighter. 

“...Hey, this might be a bad time but... I saw an arcade over there... do you wanna go check it out?”

Liberty giggled. “I’d love to.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bongwater is just a joke don’t take it seriously bdndndnd

Thankfully, the arcade visit successfully raised both the girls’ spirits, and with the help of an abundance of colourful lights and pointless games, they left a few hours later with carefree laughter and a massive purple stuffed panda that Liberty gratefully held in her arms. Just as Summer had expected, the beach had become more crowded as the day progressed. There was barely any sand visible- this wasn’t ideal for Summer with her unspoken excitement to sunbathe, but the pair just shrugged it off and happily walked around the boardwalk for a little while. There wasn’t much of a difference in where to look. There appeared to be a recurring pattern of some sort: surf shop, cafe, clothes store, repeated over and over to the point of annoyance. 

“Are you getting tired?” Liberty asked the taller girl, edging closer to her.

“Yeah, kinda. If I’m honest I didn’t really wanna ask to leave- it’s still kinda early.”

“Well... why don’t we do something else?” Summer raised her eyebrows, curious to see what Liberty had in mind. “Um... if I’m being honest, I wouldn’t mind just staying on campus...” As Liberty paused in thought, a sudden realisation crossed the cheerleader’s mind: there’d been a plan for the cheer squad to meet up that day that had entirely been overpowered by the girl’s excitement to spend time with her roommate. Summer’s eyes flashed with worry, however lit up with excitement for a moment as she figured out how this could be made into something more positive. 

“Oh, I completely forgot... I had a cheer thing this afternoon!” Liberty’s face fell; it was clear that her personal conclusion was that she and Summer wouldn’t have any time together, but the other girl made sure that this concern didn’t last too long. “I have a feeling we might be a member short... do you wanna join in?” Liberty looked at the ground in thought. “It’ll be fun! Besides, we don’t really have anything big coming up so it’s not gonna be serious.”

“Uh...” The shorter girl would have been lying if she said she wasn’t hesitant, but after a few moments of consideration, she’d reached an answer: “Yeah, sure!”

“Yay!” Summer smiled, clasping her hands together as they both made their way to the train station. The air conditioning was on a ridiculous setting, and despite it being so hot outside, it felt as though it was about to snow in the building. Out of the corner of her eye, Summer noticed the shorter girl shiver... it would be such a good time to put her arm around her. It couldn’t be that bad, right? It’s not like she didn’t have an excuse or anything... before she could stop herself, Summer edged closer to Liberty, her arm reaching out to embrace her friend- before something prevented her. 

“Hey, Summer?” Liberty turned to look at her, causing Summer to lift up her arm and run it through her hair as an attempt at a recovery. “I think your phone’s ringing...” She signalled towards the phone in Summer’s pocket that had been buzzing for what could have been a while: Summer hadn’t even noticed it. 

“Oh, yeah,” She picked it up and read the screen. “Oh, it’s Chaz... Hey, could you give me just a sec?” Liberty nodded, smiling.

“Just try not to miss the train.”

 

Trying to keep the call confidential, Summer left the station and walked down to an emptier spot of the boardwalk that was nearby.

“Hey... did you need something?”

“I was just calling to remind you that you-”

“Cheer meet-up?”

“Yeah.”

Summer laughed. “Yeah, don’t worry, I remembered eventually.”

“Okay, cool. I forgot, to be honest, it’s just I ran into Sandra and she mentioned something about it...”

“Mm, well, I don’t expect you to remember everything I have to do, if I miss it that’s my fault for being dumb.”

“You’re not dumb.” Not entirely certain why, Summer was caught off guard by this statement.

“Thanks! What’s that, like, the nicest thing you’ve ever said?”

“Make fun of me again and I’ll call you a chump.”

“You would never.” Summer replied, smirking- not that the boy was aware. 

“Watch me, chump.”

“That’s it, I’m breaking up with you.” She could hear Chaz laugh, quietly, but she could still make it out. 

“Oh, by the way, did you wanna come down to cheer practice later? If we have time we could practice that move again?”

“Uh... why not? I have nothing better to do...” He paused, as if he was thinking of something more to say. “Is it alright if I bring Travis with me? I think I’m good enough for him to see, don’t you?”

“Absolutely not, but yeah, bring him!” Again, unbeknownst to the boy, Summer grinned, but then softened her voice slightly. “Just to check, you don’t genuinely think this’ll impress him  _that_ much, right?”

“No... but he’ll probably find it hilarious.” 

“Pfft... I mean, you’re right. I can’t wait to see this- Oh, wait...”

“Hm?”

“Um... Liberty’s gonna be there too, do you think you could tone down the “extremeness” a bit if you talk to her- she’s not really that loud.”

“I’m not gonna scare her or anything, what are you on about?” Chaz joked. “But, I guess if you really want me to, I’ll go against everything I stand for.”

“Thank you so much!” A comically sarcastic tone could be obviously detected. “I better go, I might miss my train back.”

“Oh, alright. See you later?”

“Yeah, bye.” Summer said with an unseen nod, as she hung up and made her way inside the train station. She looked down at her feet as she entered, hoping that everything would be okay with what was to happen that afternoon, but the rush of the cool air inside the building hit her in the face immediately, shocking her and encouraged her to look around for the other girl. After a few seconds of scanning the room, she noticed her friend frantically waving to her from the other side of the room, and she smiled. That was before she realised the reason for the enthusiasm: the train was seconds from departure.

 

“Oh, shit.” Summer muttered under her breath as she began running towards the other girl who was clearly panicked. A large crowd of people boarding the train made it difficult for her to reach Liberty as quickly as possible, but luckily, she didn’t find it too difficult to get past everybody and grab onto the smaller girl’s hand, boarding the train together. Unfortunately, the trip back was going to be a lot more stressful: the carriage was absolutely packed full of people. The pair could barely move around without bumping into somebody, let alone sit down together. Refusing to let go of each other, they began scanning the carriage for anywhere safe to stand, and finally manage to settle for a clear space in-between the doors and the seats right next to a pole they could hold for balance... if it could be called a clear space at all.As the train began to move, the girls were forced to cling to each other to prevent themselves from falling into somebody, but luckily, neither of them seemed to mind. It was unfortunate that the trip back was more silent than the first (neither wanted to disturb the other passengers, but mostly were worried about being eavesdropped on), however, Summer didn’t really care: Liberty was still holding her hand, gently rubbing it with her thumb in a way that was so subtle, yet still comforting to the cheerleader. She’d have loved to return the gesture, but she wasn’t entirely sure if the girl was aware she was doing it or not. In the end, she simply stood there, not mentioning anything... until the train came to a shaky stop. The passengers in the carriage all shifted, their balance being overthrown by the force of the train, sending Liberty straight into Summer’s arms. The taller girl stumbled back a little, still managing to maintain her balance, holding Liberty tightly to make sure that she didn’t fall again. The girls just looked up at each other’s, their faces flushing, but due to the situation or heat they weren’t entirely certain. Quietly, Liberty began to laugh.

“Sorry...”

“No, don’t worry about it.” Summer replied with a smile, looking down at the other girl with a playful expression as she continued to hold her in her arms...

“Fuckin’ lesbians.”

Although neither knew where it had come from, both Summer and Liberty automatically pulled away from each other, their smiles fading, hands falling limply at their sides: waiting, embarrassed, to get off that train, not even looking at each other until the announcement sounded, which felt like it took an eternity.

 

Together, the pair made their way over to the playing field; Liberty seemed to have forgotten about the small incident, but Summer found herself unable to stop replaying it. For some reason, she’d concluded that once she graduated and left The Royal Academy for good, this problem would disappear... it only really dawned on her now that it wasn’t a matter of high school gossip... it was something so much more. 

“Summer?” She felt the other girl gently tap her arm to get her attention. “Are you alright?”

“Oh? Uh, yeah, I’m ok,” She looked up, noticing that she’d almost led the pair right past their destination. “Sorry, I’ve been really out of it lately...” She sighed, before making her way towards the small group of girls: it was fortunate enough that Esma wasn’t there that day- she might have not approved of Liberty joining them for their practice... even though it was just a bit of fun. Just as she’d expected, Beebee was absent as well: Pinky’s story about her days out taking ages must not have been false. As she approached them, Summer waved. Every single member waved back at her, smiling warmly at Liberty in a form of welcome. 

“Hey, Sandra?” Summer yelled, picking up the pace with Liberty following close behind. “Look, I brought Lib! I thought that since Beebee’s not here right now she could help us.”

“I-I wouldn’t count on anything...” Liberty argued, still running and slightly out of breath, but a smile on her face. Another girl with black hair in two buns and a faint tattoo on her cheek walked towards them, excitement painted over her face at the sight of Summer’s friend.

“Hell yeah, Summer, that’s always fine,” She grinned at Liberty. “It’s ok, Lib, you won’t have to do anything drastic... it’s just nice to have you here. You’re like a sister to us, you know?” She declared, placing her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Isn’t that right, Summer.”

“...Yes.”

Liberty averted her eyes and blocked her flattered smile by her hand. 

“Actually,” Another girl with her light brown hair pulled up into messy pigtails joined the group. “Makoto wanted to go over the backflip again- that’s okay, right? Oh, I wanna see you do do that again, Summer, you’re, like, so so so good at it!” 

“Yeah, Saph, we could do that...” Summer considered waiting for Chaz to arrive so they could all give him the attention he wanted, but decided against it- at least for now. Practice would have to take priority. As the group began to get in position, Liberty stood there, confused and clearly embarrassed to ask for help. Thankfully, the members of the cheer squad (that were present) were incredibly supportive. 

“Oh, Lib!” The girl with the buns got out of position and ran over to her. “Ok, so what you have to do is really easy...”

 

It was easy for the group to lose track of time, but after what felt like an hour of carefree “practice” (which was really just taking turns being thrown into the air by Makoto and badly caught by the others- thankfully no cheerleaders were injured during this activity) they began crowding around each other and discussing future events. Liberty’s confident demeanour began to fade, and she subtly pulled Summer to one side.

“Hey, is it alright if I just sit down for a sec? I’m just getting tired.”

“Yeah, no problem! Just let me know if there’s anything you need, alright.” Summer smiled, turning back to her group. Liberty shot her a grin back, and made her way over to the benches that were, once again, empty. She walked over to where she’d left the stuffed animal that Summer had won for her at the arcade (she hadn’t had time to bring it back to the dorms) and sat down next to it, watching the girls keep on talking. She didn’t mind being on her own; the setting was calm and quiet, if you could ignore Sapphire’s energy drink induced yelling, and the feeling of the sun on her skin felt nice. She leaned into the softness of the gift and looked over at Summer, grinning as she observed her excitement, before sitting up and rubbing her cheek with her thumb: she felt like her face was becoming sunburnt or something, at least that was the answer for her cheeks heating up...

“I probably should have brought sunblock.” She muttered under her breath, as she looked over to the entrance of the field- only to see another pair of sims standing there, watching the girls: one with short blonde hair who was leaning against the wall, and another with longer, messy hair who was a lot shorter than the other, but lead him along, near to where Liberty was sitting. It wasn’t that she didn’t mind, she just wasn’t too familiar with the shorter one, and she hadn’t spoken to the taller one in a while... Still, when they say down near to her, she smiled at them.

“Hey.” The shorter one began.

“Oh, hi, Liberty!” The blonde began. “How are you?” 

“Uh, I’m okay, thanks,” She replied, happy that Travis had remembered her. “How about you?”

“Yeah, I’m great!”

“Oh,  _you’re_ Liberty, are you?” The other boy’s question was accompanied by a clearly forced smile.

“Um... yeah, I am?”

“Oh that’s nice. You know, Summer talks about you all the time.” He added.

“She... she does?” Liberty could feel the sunburn returning. He just nodded in response, folding his arms and glancing at Travis. “Oh, wait, you’re Chaz, aren’t you?” Liberty asked, her eyes lighting up at the realisation that was fairly obvious. 

“Yeah.” 

“Oh, nice to meet you! Summer talks about you a lot too...” This may have been an over-exaggeration in comparison. 

“Oh. That’s nice.” He kept his arms folded as he looked out towards the cheerleaders. It didn’t seem like he was up for conversation at that time... at least not with her. Travis, on the other hand, maintained an overall friendly attitude.

“Hey, Lib, just asking, why do you have that bear?” He asked, leaning over Chaz and pointing towards the stuffed animal.

“Oh, Summer got it for me today when we went to the arcade together! I haven’t had a chance to put it in my dorm room yet.”

“Aw, that’s nice of her.” 

“You’ve never won anything for me...” Chaz muttered under his breath: subtly, but Liberty could still hear him, and it took a lot of control to not snicker at it.

“What?”

“I didn’t say anything, chump.”

“Hah, uh, I mean... I was thinking about naming it, do you have any ideas?” Liberty held the bear up so the boys could have a better view of it. Chaz just stared at it, but Travis titled his head.

“What about... um... I actually don’t know... I have a name app on my phone, that could help?” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and immediately began typing. “Why don’t you come up with something, Chaz?” He asked, not looking up from his phone.

“Bongwater.”

Travis stopped typing for a second.

“ _Bongwater_ ?”

“Bongwater.”

Liberty wasn’t honestly sure how to react to this, but she found herself smirking at the taller boy’s dumbfounded expression. She turned the bear back around to face herself, biting her lip in an attempt to stop herself from laughing. 

“He _could_ be a Bongwater...” Out of the corner of her eye she definitely saw Chaz smile, even though his arms were still folded. 

“Why... why would you suggest that of all things?” Travis had put his phone back in his pocket. Chaz only shrugged in response.

“It’s a good name.” He said, desperately trying to keep his cold exterior, but failing.

“Awesome, so if you ever have kids... you’re gonna name at least one of them Bongwater?”

“That depends on whether or not you let me.” Liberty let out a short laugh that was a mix of surprise and humour- once again, it seemed as though Travis had missed Chaz’s comment. 

“Huh?”

“Nothing.” 

The girl turned to look at the group again, only to see that Summer was running towards her with an excited sparkle in her eyes.

“LIB! Guess what!”

“What?” Liberty was a little surprised by the girl’s sudden explosion of happiness, but played along with it as she didn’t want to upset her.

“Ok, it’s totally okay if you don’t want to, but I was talking with Sandra and Sapphire and Makoto and everyone and we agreed that we all love you and you’re actually really good at the routine even if you don’t think so and-”

“D-do you... do you want me to be a cheerleader?”

“...Yeah!”

Liberty went quiet for a bit, considering the offer, definitely not disagreeing... just a little reluctant. Travis quietly began to applaud.

“Um... you know what, Summer? Yeah! It’ll be fun, right?”

“Yay!”

“...But, I don’t wanna do any big showy things right now, okay?”

“Absolutely, you can take things at your own pace, I promise.” 

“Thanks, Summer.” Liberty smiled at her, clutching the panda to her chest. For a moment, as they lived in that moment of excitement and admiration, it felt like they were completely alone in the universe...

 

Of course, that didn’t last long, before Chaz snatched the stuffed animal out of Liberty’s hands and waved it in the cheerleader’s face.

“By the way, this is your new son. His name is Bongwater.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OK SO BASICALLY GAMERS me n my gf were talking about smth on the wiki that said Beebee, Esma and Cassandra are sisters and u know what HC ACCEPTED

Maybe it was the excitement of the cheer squad’s new member, but Summer felt the following weeks go by like lightning. As she’d expected, the team had loved Liberty joining in on the practices (at least most of them- Esma was admittedly reluctant in the beginning, but thankfully she warmed up to the girl) and it may not have been obvious to the others, but Summer couldn’t help but notice the way Liberty had become more outgoing... in some ways it seemed as if nothing could bother her anymore. Needless to say, Summer was incredibly pleased to have made that decision, especially as she watched the girl laugh as she, Beebee and Sapphire held a playful contest regarding who could do the longest handstand. 

 

“I’m so happy for her,” She said, not taking her eyes off the group. “She looks so much better now, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah... You must be really proud of yourself, huh?” The other spectator replied, somehow managing to watch and text at the same time.

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, this was your idea, wasn’t it?” Summer paused.

“Uh... no, it was a group agreement...” She looked at the boy, folding her arms. “I only suggested it. Besides, we’re always looking for new recruits.”

“Hm, if you say so...” He said with a smile, focusing entirely on his phone again. 

“I mean... I am glad I asked them- I wasn’t actually spending that much time around her before...” She mumbled, an indication of guilt in her tone. 

“Oh, come on, Summer, you spend more time around her than you do your actual boyfriend.” Travis joked , smiling as he shot her a playful side glance.

“Huh, speaking of which, where is he? He said he’d come, didn’t he, Trav?” The boy looked thoughtful for a moment. 

“Yeah... he said he’d be here... maybe he’s getting something?”

As if on cue, the pair’s attention was drawn towards a voice, calling out a greeting as the speaker ran over to them. 

“Hi...” He said, out of breath by the time he got there. “I’m sorry... I’m gonna be real with you , I forgot I agreed to be here. I was going over something with Tim...” Summer rolled her eyes.

“Well, you’re here now, at least.”

“I mean, I did bring this,” Summer noticed a paper bag that he had been hiding behind his back, and he held it in front of him for her to take it. “Here.” 

Slightly confused, yet flattered, Summer took it from him with a small smile and looked inside: it contained a small bouquet of what looked like fake blue flowers (but were still very pretty) and four different colours of nail polish. 

“Oh my God!” She exclaimed gratefully, examining the bottles, the unexpected gift having made her excited. “These are adorable, thanks man!” 

“That’s a romantic nickname for your boyfriend.” Travis commented, not looking up from his phone. 

“Shut it, chump.” 

“Eh, whatever. I have to take this, brb...” He said as he walked away, holding his phone to his ear as his voice began to fade into the background with distance. 

“He did not just say “brb”, did he?” Summer muttered, still grasping the bag close to her face. 

“He did- I hate him so much.” Chaz said, watching the boy as he left, smiling as a pink tint spread across his cheeks. Summer grinned at his reaction, folding her arms with the gift still in her hand.

“You know, you didn’t have to get me anything...”

“I mean... I wanted to! Besides, I bet I look like a great boyfriend right now, don’t I?” Summer shrugged. “It’s just something ‘cause, y’know...” 

“Um...”

“We’ve been “dating” for two months today?” Summers eyes widened.

“Wait, is that what this is about? I didn’t even realise...”

“That’s understandable, I guess. It’s not really a big point, is it? But I forgot cheer practice, so we’re even, right?”

“Right,” Summer smiled at him again. “But, hey, if you wanna get me something every month, I won’t complain.”

“Pfft, nice try. I was just trying to be nice but that stuff was  _expensive_.”

“Well, I appreciate it.” She told him, quickly stepping forward wrapping him in a grateful hug.

“Uh, I hope I’m not interrupting anything...” Travis asked, causing the pair to pull apart, embarrassed. 

“No, you’re alright.”

“Mind your own business.” Chaz snapped, turning away from the boy so he couldn’t see the flush of his skin. Travis put his hands up in front of him in a joking defensive manor while Summer giggled, before she felt a small tap on her shoulder. She turned around to address whoever was requesting her attention.

 

“Oh, hey, Lib- are we going now?”

“Yeah... everyone’s getting kinda tired, and Esma says she’ll refuse to come to practice next time if we go through the routine again... Anyway, the rest of us were just gonna hang out at Cedella’s or something- I was wondering if you were gonna come too?” 

“Yeah! Yeah, I’d love to!” Liberty’s eyes lit up before Travis spoke again.

“Woah, really? Chaz just got here though... it’s your month-aversary, right?” Summer sighed, looking over to Chaz, who demonstrated a clear expression of guilt.

“Oh yeah...”

“Why don’t you two just come as well?” Liberty suggested.

“Wh- would that be okay?” Chaz asked, somewhat surprised.

“Sure! It’ll be fun! And I don’t wanna ruin your month-celebration-thingy.” The boys grinned at her in gratitude before walking along with the cheer squad. Luckily, unlike many other establishments, the café wasn’t too far from the school, and the walk there wasn’t too long, and the group was sitting in a quiet corner in the building, surrounded by paintings with fairy lights draped along the ceiling. It was a welcoming setting, but Summer couldn’t help but feel as if something was... off... as if one member was unusually quiet.

“Huh, for a place meant for peasant gatherings, this interior design is... actually pretty nice.” Esma muttered, almost angry to admit it.

“I know right! It’s so cozy, it’s great!” Sapphire possessed a remarkably different tone as she happily admired her surroundings.

“Come on, Esma, you agreed to come out with us, you can’t just judge everything you see.” Summer huffed.

“I have to- I can’t help it. It’s an honour to get judged by me. Besides, Beebee tells me I need to be more friendly... or something like that.” The group looked over to the girl, a lock of her curly pink hair wrapped around her finger as she gazed down at her feet: she’d been a million miles away for ages.

“Beebee?” She jumped, before looking next to her at Summer. 

“Oh... sorry... What was that?”

“It’s not important.” Esma mumbled, offended. 

“You appear to be conveying “worry”, Beebee. I am programmed to request further elaboration on the subject.” Makoto tilted her head, the concerned look on her face incredibly sincere compared to her vocabulary. Beebee sighed, sitting up straight. She gave Summer a nervous side-eye before she began talking.

“I...I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently... and I...” She trailed off, trying to find the words. “This is... really hard to say- and I don’t want anything to change between us all... so, please just promise that you won’t... get angry?” She asked, tears forming in her usually bright eyes as she looked around at everybody: all they gave her was a small nod of reassurance, urging her to continue. Chaz and Summer shot each other a brief glance, knowing fully well what was going on.

“I-I like girls.” The confession came out as almost a whisper. The girl kept looking at her feet, as though she couldn’t bear to witness the faces of her friends. Summer silently reached over for her hand, interlocking their fingers in a small gesture to say “I’m proud of you”- and why shouldn’t she be? Drawing her eyes from the girl,she scanned the reaction of the other squad members: it was nothing less than pure shock, but Sandra managed to shake her head and converse.

“So... you’re gay?”

“Well, I’m not actually sure what I am... at least not right now... but I have a girlfriend.” Sapphire gasped.

“Oh my God! Who, who, who?”

“I’d... I’d rather not say...” 

“*Searching through *SUPPORT* category*... I would like to inform you that you have my full suppport and love, Beebee, and that if there’s anything you feel is ideal to discuss, I will be more than happy to assist.” Makoto smiled at her, her metallic amber eyes reflecting the glittering of the fairy lights.

“Good for you, Beebee.” Travis smiled at her, putting his phone down for the first time since they arrived. Liberty was speechless, butmanaged to lean over and gave the girl a small but comforting hug.

“I mean...” Immediately, Summer became certain that Chaz was about to say something he’d regret. “I already knew that...” There it was. Everyone’s eyes were suddenly on the redhead, asking the same question: how? “I probably just have, like, extremely good gay-dar or something.” He mumbled, flushed with embarrassment.

“What? I thought straight people didn’t have gay-dars?” Summer had to bite her lip as to not laugh at Sandra’s comment.

“W-well then... Maybe...” He really has to lie his way out of everything, doesn’t he? Summer couldn’t help but think this as she watched the boy try to form an excuse. “Maybe it’s ‘cause I have a brother who’s gay, so I... have it?” Everyone simply looked past Chaz’s idiotic (and somewhat offensive) false comment, and their focus fell on the one person who hadn’t said a word. 

“I...” This was probably the longest Esma had ever gone without speaking. Beebee’s melancholy expression twisted into something more offended, her face gaining a tint of red as she waited for the girl to speak. 

“You what?” She demanded, tears spilling out of her eyes.

“I... I had no idea...” Beebee went quiet. “Um... how long have you known?” Her anger immediately surpassed as she began to answer.

“A-about three years, maybe?” A few displays of surprised reactions circled the group, but everyone figured it was probably just best to let the pair have their moment. 

“So... you knew before...” Esma’s voice was soft, and clearly trembled when she neared the end of her sentence. Beebee nodded. “Did you ever tell Cassandra?”

“I didn’t want her to... to think any less of me.”

“Oh, come on, she thought the world of you: you know she wouldn’t have minded- nobody else does.” Esma said, causing Beebee to turn to look at everyone around her, who all could only manage a warm smile. Shyly, she returned it, wiping away her nervous tears with a shaking hand.

“I love you guys.” She laughed, her voice still unsteady, but sincere.

 

The way back to school was a lot more quiet: Most of the squad had left to do their own thing, and Beebee and Esma were spending some time on their own for the first time in what could only be described as far too long. This only left a small group including Summer, Chaz, Liberty, and Travis to walk directly back to the campus- not that any of them minded at all. Sick of the repetitive sounds of the city, Travis attempted to start a conversation.

“It was really brave of her to do that back there, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah...” Liberty replied, looking at the ground in front of her as she walked. “It must have been so nice for her that everything went well.” Summer nodded at this, a combination of happiness and envy overtaking her: why couldn’t they have  been the ones she slipped up in front of?

“...Hang on, are they related?”

“What?” 

“Are they related? Beebee and Esma?” Chaz looked at the others, waiting for one to answer.

“Yeah? They’re sisters, I thought everyone knew that...” Summer told him.

“Well, I didn’t!”

“Calm down, Chaz, you know now.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down, chump.” Summer quickly took his hand and squeezed it hard in what could have been seen as a romantic gesture, but was really her way of telling him to shut his damn mouth before he made things worse, which he thankfully complied to. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.” He muttered, pulling his hand away, having received the message. It seemed that Chaz’s sudden outburst had effected the mood of the group, so it was fortunate that they were just entering the school grounds. 

 

“I might go back to my dorm,” Travis said, pulling his phone out of his pocket again. “See ya.” He smiled as he turned away.

“Hang on, wait for me!” Chaz demanded, running after him, leaving Summer and Lib on their own. 

“Um, Summer?” The brunette began.

“Yeah?”

“Ok... well...” She lowered we voice. “This might sound kinda weird, but I think Chaz might be cheating on you.”

“What?”

“Uh, it’s not really anything I’ve seen him do, but have you notice he kinda flirts with... uh, with Travis sometimes?”

“Are you  _fucking serious_?”  Summer hissed under her breath to no one in particular, bringing her hand up to her forehead. 

“I mean... I’ve got nothing against it or anything, but he shouldn’t be doing it at all and I just didn’t know if... Sorry, are you okay?”

“Huh, oh, yeah. Don’t worry, he’s just joking, he does it all the time.”

“Are you sure?” Liberty’s eyes were full of concern for her friend, even despite her reassurances.

“Yeah, yeah, he’s just being stupid. Don’t pay him any attention: he’s actually really sweet underneath all that “extreme” stuff; he wouldn’t do anything like that,” She shrugged, mentally planning on how to criticise his terrible acting. “I could ask him about it, I guess, but I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about whatsoever.” Liberty nodded.

“If you say so... do you wanna go back to the dorms too?”

“Yeah, why not? It might just be nice to relax.” The pair made their way over to the dorms, joking occasionally in order to keep the mood light, but when they approached the building, Summer paused with a gasp. 

“Oh, I think I left my present from Chaz at the playing field!” She looked over in the direction of it, worry spread over her face, then turned back to Liberty. “You don’t mind if I just run over and get it, do you?” Liberty shook her head with a smile. “Ok, thanks, Lib! You go inside, I’ll only be a minute, okay?” She ran off, leaving Liberty to only watch after her. A small grin remained on her face as she turned towards the door to the building, before she noticed a pair of other sims approaching her.

“Hi, Liberty.” 

This voice was one she immediately recognised, and even though she’d been free of trouble from it for so long at this point, she felt herself begin to panic, but still, she turned to look at the speaker.

“Long time no see, isn’t it?”

“What do you want, Rob?”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So uh turns out i can’t write fight scenes :)))

“What do you want, Rob?”

 

The boy placed his hands on his hips, smiling at the girl though there was a spiteful glare in his eye. The other figure, however, showed no interest in being friendly, with his arms folded and his expression cold as ice. 

“We just wanted to say hi, didn’t we, Brendan?” He said, turning towards his accomplice.

“Obviously. Especially now you’re this big popular cheerleader, aren’t you? It’s an honour to even be breathing the same air as you.” He said with an icy smirk, the sarcasm clear in his tone. 

“Just leave me alone, ok? I haven’t done anything to you.” Liberty turned towards the dorm, going to enter and get away from the boys, before she felt a sudden grip on her shoulder. Her face was met with Rob’s own, mere inches away as he stared her straight in the eyes, causing her to shrink in intimidation.

“You think you’re so much better than everyone now, don’t you?” He scoffed, his grip tightening on the girl’s shoulder, causing her to wince as she tried to separate herself from him, but to no avail.

“N-not really...” She managed to pull the boy off, but couldn’t run anywhere: he’d cornered her up against the side of the dorms. “W-what did I even do to you?” She spluttered, genuinely seeking an answer- unadulterated spite not being a good enough reason for her despite everything she’d endured. The boys glanced at each other, before looking back at her. Brendan shrugged in the background.

“Do we really need a reason? I mean, look at you.”

“We just feel like it’s our responsibility to let you know what a miserable eyesore you are.” Rob said, laughing as he turned to face the other boy. Liberty felt her face heat up as her eyes began to prick. There was surely some way out of this situation, but just trying to slip away while they were occupied with their mockery was not the solution. “Hey, you’re staying here.”

“You can’t honestly think we’re done with you, right?”

“I...” Liberty tried to move away from the walls, desperate to not be cornered again. She couldn’t stand the feeling of being trapped.

“You’ll what?” Rob hissed, mirroring her footsteps. “We told you what’d happen if you told someone, remember? You wanna keep your little pet, you keep your mouth shut.”

“Oh, maybe she’ll release it upon us.” Brendan snickered, following the pair, but staying at a notable distance from the conflict. 

“Can you just leave me alone?!” Liberty’s outburst came as a surprise to even her. A chill ran  through her as she watched Rob’s cruel expression become even more twisted before he got even closer to her- she was frozen in place, her fear acting as glue between her feet and the ground. 

“Don’t even fucking think about talking to us like that ever again.” He spat, fire in his eyes. “You shouldn’t even be saying anything at all, you worthless little-”

 

His insult was cut short by a hand aggressively pushing him away from Liberty. Surprised, he turned to look at her defendant and found a face he wasn’t surprised by in any way.

“Wow, look who it is. What do you want, Holidyke?” 

“Wh-what do I  _want_ ?!” Su mmer spluttered, in awe at the boy’s foolish question. “I want you to leave Liberty alone. For good.” Rob glared at her.

“Oh, well, the thing is... I don’t really want to, so I guess neither of you are gonna get your way.”

“Piss off, Summer.” Brendan retorted, waving her away. Obviously, she wasn’t going to let herself be shaken.

“No!” Summer walked up to the boy closest to Liberty, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him closer to her. “I don’t know what sick enjoyment you get out of this, but it stops now, do you hear me?” She let go of him and tilted her head towards the other girl, who, at this point wasn’t sure what to do. “She has done nothing to deserve this.”

“She doesn’t have to: look at her!” Brendan laughed.

“You’ve already used that one.” Liberty piped up, before he shot a dirty look at her, telling her to shut up before things got ugly. Rob drew his attention back to Summer.

“I knew it...” He laughed, as people began to surround the four students, curious as to what was happening. “Why else would you be defending her?” He spoke as if he’d uncovered something legendary. 

“Because I’m not a complete dick like you?” 

“No, you  _are_ a les, aren’t you?” He raised his voice, addressing his audience. “YOU HEAR THAT EVERYONE? SUMMER HOLIDAY IS A DYKE AFTER ALL.” A wave of murmurs travelled through the crowd as Summer felt her face heat up as she began to shake. Rob smiled even wider as he saw one specific person pushing his way to the front of the crowd. “Does your boyfriend know? Sorry to break it to you, man.” He smirked, Chaz’s expression a mix of embarrassment and rage. The pair of boys laughed, and Rob, noticing her attempted escape, grabbed Liberty’s wrist. “Honestly, I wasn’t convinced for a second. How would you hang out with this if you weren’t-” His words were cut off by a sudden punch to the side of the face. He let go, stumbling backwards as he clutched his cheek, glaring daggers at the cheerleader whose fist was still clenched. An excited rumble of voices rippled through the crowd as they anticipated what was going to happen. Chaz’s eyes lit up, but Travis flinched, second-hand fear running through him. 

 

“What the  _fuck_?”  Rob brought his hand away from his face, revealing the absolute outrage his face demonstrated. “You are in for it now!”

“You really about to fight a girl, mate?” A voice from the crowd called out.

“FUCK OFF!” He didn’t have the chance to say anything before Summer kicked him hard in the back of the knees, causing him to collapse on the ground. The consequences of her actions didn’t matter at the moment, all Summer knew is that the boy had done enough to deserve this, and if she had to be the one to inflict it then so be it. He attempted to stand up again, but Summer pushed him onto the ground, her hand pressed firmly on his arm, pushing him down as she punched him right in the nose. He yelled in pain, blood starting to drip down his face and his eyes watering. He brought his free hand up to cover his face and attempted to knee Summer in the stomach. It wasn’t as hard as he’d intended, but she still let go of him in shock, allowing him to scramble away from her and regain his balance on his feet. Upon seeing this, Summer jumped up as well, running towards him, throwing another punch, except this time it was blocked. Rob managed to grab a hold of her wrists, smiling smugly before realising that she was a lot stronger than him. She managed to pull away, and in a fit of panic, Rob tried to punch her back... and succeeded. He hit her right in the corner of her mouth, and immediately let her guard down. Rob saw this opportunity for victory and was able to push her down, striking her a couple more times, at least for a while, before she pushed him off and held him down instead. She was sick of this going on for so long, and once she had him in this position didn’t hold back: angry tears formed in her eyes as she hit the boy, furious at everything he’d done. He brought his arms up to his head, shaking at the realisation that he’d inevitably lost this battle.

 

“Shouldn’t we stop her?” Travis asked Chaz, the fight having shaken him, and his hands brought up to his eyes. The redhead bit his lip in thought and looked up at the boy. 

“...Do we  _have_ to?” 

Travis shot him a cold glare, and he sighed, carefully making his way towards the pair of sims with Travis close behind. The pair managed to grab a hold of one of the cheerleader’s arms each, and pulled her away from the boy on the ground, even though she struggled to break free to finish what she’d started.

“Let me go!” She ordered them through clenched teeth, her anger having not subsided, but the two boys stood their ground and continued to hold her until her struggling eased. She sighed, her arms being released by the boys as she turned away from the boy who was still on the floor and began to walk away from him, her eyebrows furrowed and her shoulders tense- before running back and giving him one last kick to the crotch. Rob screamed in pain as the crowd erupted in surprised exclamation, with some cheering. Chaz couldn’t help but laugh, but stopped as soon as Travis elbowed him in the shoulder. Summer looked down at him, her hand on her hips and a somewhat proud expression across her face: the cuts and bruises were future Summer’s problem, but for now she just wanted to live in the moment of her victory. 

“You could have stopped ages ago, Rob.” He looked up at her.

“Piss off.” His voice was raspy, and the cruel statement came out shaky and, frankly, not very intimidated. The cheerleader looked up at Liberty, who was actually standing next to Brendan, like the events that led to this whole occurrence didn’t even happen, and Summer wasn’t certain, but was fairly sure she could see a tiny relieved grin on her face. Brendan, on the other hand, looked traumatised as he looked down at the broken image of his friend. Summer felt as though she should be experiencing some level of guilt, but that didn’t seem to appear. In it’s place, however, there grew a pit of despair as she heard an all-too familiar voice from behind her.

“Would somebody mind explaining  _what_ is going on here?”  Summer whipped her head around, only to see the headmistress of the school.

“M-Ms. Marshall...” She began, speechless. There was no way she could lie her way out of this- the scene was clear, and the amount of casualties gave her a further insight on the event. The teacher massaged her forehead with her thumb and index finger. 

“You know, Summer, I never would have expected this from you, of all people,” She looked up at the crowd. “All of you, get out of here. Immediately!” The crowd complied and disbanded, their heads hung, half in shame and half so she couldn’t see their faces. They didn’t want to get in trouble. For others, however, they weren’t so fortunate. Rosalyn looked at the four unharmed witnesses with a cold stare. “Get them to the infirmary. Then I expect to see you all in my office, got it?” They all nodded, not daring to say another word. 

 

Summer winced as she held the cotton pad up to her mouth, trying to stop the bleeding. She was crowded by her friends, who, needless to say, all had different reactions to what had just occurred. 

“So... you won your first fight... how did it feel?” Chaz asked, innocently smiling as he propped his head up with his elbows on the table. 

“Pretty good actually...” Summer laughed to herself, the remark quiet, yet still noticed by the other party in the room. 

“Speak for yourself, bitch.” Rob spat at her, Brendan sitting next to him at the other table, his hand on the other boy’s shoulder sympathetically. 

“You shut the fuck up!” Chaz exclaimed, then lowered his voice again. “Ugh, why couldn’t they put us in different rooms, what were they thinking?”

“What were  _you_ thinking?” Travis asked Summer. “You could get expelled for this, you know?”

The cheerleader shrugged. “Just got caught up in the moment, I guess. Sorry.”

“Oh, I hope you don’t get in too much trouble, Summer. Just tell her I egged you on.” 

“But you didn’t, Lib. Just ‘cause I don’t wanna get in trouble means I want you to.”

“Ew stop being gay.” Brendan muttered, unwisely.

“Hey! You were there weren’t you? You want that to happen to you?” Chaz turned around to yell at him again: since when did trying to have a conversation about someone right in front of them get so difficult?

“Okay, Chaz, don’t encourage any more.”

“I’ll fucking do it again.” Summer muttered, glaring at the boys, only half serious. 

At that point, a boy peered into the classroom, looking around the room as to check everyone was there. 

“Rosalyn- I mean, Ms. Marshall is waiting for you now.” 

“Alright, thanks, Buddy, we’ll be there in a second.” Travis told him with a smile as he left the group. Summer stood up, but it suddenly occurred to her that maybe the boy’s attacks weren’t as weak as she’d initially thought. Her head began to start pounding and her legs shook, so she couldn’t help but fall back into her chair. Understanding this, Liberty frantically stood up too, wrapping one arm around her waist and allowing the cheerleader to lean on her for now. Summer gave her an appreciative smile, and the four of them left the room together, leaving the other boys to get ready to go on their own. 

“I consider that a Rob Jarrett Win.” Rob stated, the weakness of the girl a sort of compliment to his ego.

“They... aren’t actually dating are they?” Rob paused, before speaking in such a quiet whisper that even in the empty room, his friend couldn’t hear him.

“...They should be.” 

 

The atmosphere in the office was heavy, as Rosalyn sat at her desk, looking at the six students with a blank expression, but shame in her eyes. 

“Now...” She began. “I’m not going to say “I’ve never seen anything like this” because, well, I have... but I am surprised that it’s you five.”

“There’s six of us, miss.” 

“I was leaving out Charles. If anything I’m shocked that he wasn’t the one doing the fighting.”

“Thanks, Roz. You get me.” He announced with a grin.

“That’s not something to be proud of. Don’t call me “Roz”, McFreely,” Chaz sank back into his chair as Rosalyn sighed. “Can I just ask... what specifically happened?”

“She broke my dick, miss!” Rob exclaimed, raising his hand.

“Please... please refrain from using that kind of language in my office- or in this school as a whole. You’ve already guaranteed detention, I wouldn’t recommend getting into any more trouble, Mr Jarrett.”

“Yes. Sorry.”

“Now, I wouldn’t mind an actual explanation.” She looked at Summer.

“Uh... um... Well, you see miss...” She pointed at Rob. “He’s been picking on Lib for, like, months, and today he took it too far!” Rosalyn looked at the boy. 

“Is this true?” Rob looked down, nodding his head with shame. There was no denying it at this point.

“And was that any reason to get physically violent, Miss Holiday?”

“N-no, but I didn’t know what else to do... I got angry, I’m sorry.” The headmistress looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Can I just ask, why today of all days? If you say this is been consistent, what was it that he did to make you so upset...”

This had been something Summer was afraid she’d ask, and she started to trip over her words as she answered. 

“H-he... I... um, well, what he did was...”

“I made a joke about her being gay, miss.” Rob admitted, his voice softer than usual, like he was only now realising the damage of his actions. Rosalyn raised her eyebrows.

“What’s wrong with that?” She asked him.

“Um... nothing, I guess?”

“It’s weird!” Brendan exclaimed, attracting the shock of everyone in the room. “What are you gonna get out of dating someone of the same sex? It’s stupid!”

“It’s  _not_ stupid !”  Summer yelled, leaning over Rob to address him more directly. “It’s just about who you  like! A nd anyway, you shouldn’t be worried about anyone’s love life apart from your own, you lonely prick!” 

“Summer, that’s quite enough,” Rosalyn told her, and the cheerleader sat back down, hanging her head. “But I must say, Brendan, I agree with her... for the most part. I suggest you keep your primitive opinions to yourself until you come to your senses.” This comment left Brendan speechless, having been completely ganged up on: he wasn’t sure why, but he thought somebody would agree with him. His face turned red with embarrassment at the subtle glares from everyone: even the person he arrived with. He huffed, turning away and folding his arms. Rosalyn began to speak again.

“Now, I believe I have a good idea of what happened, and I’ll try and make the punishments as fair as I can...” She looked towards Summer. “Two weeks of detention: I get that it was a matter of defence in some ways, but you still initiated the fight, and I can’t have you doing that again.” She turned to Rob. “Again, two weeks of detention. You did partake in the fight, but I can see the result, and I feel like I shouldn’t be too harsh.”

“Why am I getting as much as her, then?”

“Verbal abuse. For months. Did you forget about that?” Rob placed his hand on top of the other, looking down in shame. “Anyway, for the rest of you... I suppose you’re innocent, so I’ll let you go free.” Their relief could be obvious from miles away. “But, Brendan? Detention for three days. I’m sorry, but I just can’t have you going around saying things like that to anyone who’ll listen. I can’t change your views, but I must make you realise that you could really hurt someone. Do you understand?” The boy scoffed.

“Fine!” He sneered, standing up and storming out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

“Hm...” Rosalyn hummed, raiding her eyebrows at the teens childish behaviour. “Now you two, do you think you can overlook your differences?”

Rob and Summer turned to each other, Summer was sceptical, but Rob looked genuinely embarrassed. 

“I... um, I won’t do it again. I’m sorry. I don’t want to upset anyone... at least not anymore,” He looked behind Summer at the other girl, who was fiddling with her braids, looking down at her feet. “I’m sorry, Lib. I didn’t mean it, I swear.” She looked up at him and nodded, giving him a small forced smile; it was all she could manage, but she did want to forgive him. 

“And I promise I won’t break your dick again.” Summer told him with a playful grin.

“Miss Holiday,  _please_!”

“Ah- sorry...”

The pair gladly shook hands, smiling at each other, and Summer would have been lying if she said this wasn’t a weight off her shoulders, but once the handshake had concluded, something seemed to dawn on her... she was more than able to protect herself.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter sucks ass i formally apologise

The ticking of the clock was persistent in its quest to drive the trio of students sat in detention to madness: after an hour it had began to echo around Summer’s mind, starting to distract her from her work... If it could even be described in that way. Only a small handful of the required questions had been attempted, but the paper was still heavy with ink. Spread across the page was an abundance of “Summer Lee” or “Liberty Holiday”, with a couple of messy doodles of the girls or Liberty’s snake, Mr Venom, dancing around the printed text. A while ago, she’d have been embarrassed by having done this. Maybe even a little disgusted in herself. Yet... she couldn’t help but find herself smiling as a warm blush painted her cheeks. Bored of the work, she’d began to wonder... surely her classmates wouldn’t behave the way they did after the incident with Rob... besides, even if they were to revert back to how they were, she wouldn’t have to isolate herself: she knew for a fact that the cheer squad would stick by her side... and, hey, maybe it would help Liberty if she found out the truth. As the 3:00PM bell rang, allowing them to leave, Summer made her final decision: she was definitely going to come out. 

 

For a reason unbeknownst to the girl, the hallway seemed to have a more cheery atmosphere than usual. This couldn’t be influenced by her future intention, could it? She hummed to herself, wondering if keeping the way she felt hidden in the dark for so long had been effecting her in worse ways than she’d initially suspected; although she hadn’t even officially told anyone new, she felt like so many things had already been set right. She’d spent so much time thinking about nobody finding out about her sexuality that she hadn’t actually been able to focus on much else. A swift wave of enthusiasm swept through the girl, causing her to pick up speed once she got out of the school building and stepped foot into the courtyard. Before she was going to execute her plan, there was a few people that she wanted to run it by... just to confirm that she was making the right decision. She knew just where to find those said people, or at least, two of them. Sure enough, once she arrived at the girl’s dorms, the common room was close to empty, with Pinky and Beebee sitting in the corner, painting each other’s nails. She smiled, running over them, being cautious as to not trip over anything on her way. Once they noticed her arrival, they smiled as well, glad to see their friend again for the first time after the fight.

“Summer! How are you doing?” Beebee asked, tilting her head, her eyes directed towards the cheerleader’s lip. She smiled as she sat down.

“I’m fine! Never better! Don’t worry about me!”

“Are you sure?” Pinky’s blue eyes rippled with concern. “I’d be feeling kinda... sad after a fight like that.”

“Really, I’m great! Me and Rob actually made up! He’s gonna try to be less of a... um...” 

“Dickhead!” Beebee finished, her eyes glittering at the opportunity to complete the other girl’s sentence.

“Eh... something along those lines.” She leaned in closer, reducing her voice to just above a whisper. “There is something I wanted to check with you two about, though.”

“Yeah, anything!” The pair looked at her in anticipation, slightly afraid of what she was about to say- it wasn’t unlike them to expect the worse with that girl. 

“Beebee... when you came out, nobody gave you any grief, right?”

“Uh- yeah, that’s right,” She began, but then paused in thought for a moment. “But I did only tell the cheerleaders... I don’t think I’m ready for a bigger circle than that.” Summer nodded. 

“Okay, just making sure everything’s fine...”

“Summer, what’s the matter?” Pinky asked with an uncharacteristically demanding tone of voice. An excited smile spread across the blonde’s face.

“I think... I think I’m ready to come out too,” The pair of girls’ mouths dropped open, yet their precise expressions were quite difficult to read. “On my terms this time.” She added, proudly. 

“Summer!” Beebee squealed.

“That’s amazing!”

“I’d hug you but...” The girl raised her hands, displaying a pattern of pastel pink and blue colours on her nails. “...they’re not dry yet.” 

Summer laughed, encouraged by their supportive reactions. “Yeah... Sorry to sound like a  _Marina_ _And_ _The_ _Diamonds_   song, but I don’t want everyone to love me for what I’m not ... a nd you know what, I can fight anyone who wants to disagree.” She grinned, playfully holding up her fists in front of her gleeful expression. The two others shared this positivity, until Pinky’s face fell a little.

“Hang on... what’s gonna happen with you and Chaz, then?” Summer’s cheerfulness suddenly vanished.

“A-actually... I’m not sure. I haven’t talked about it with him yet...” She began anxiously scratching her cheek as she spoke. “Of course, I’d like to call this whole relationship thing off, but... I’m not sure how he’ll react...” The enthusiasm in her eyes was replaced with guilt. “I don’t want him to come out too- he can pretend to be as angry and straight as he wants- but I guess he won’t have anything to fall back on...”

“Awe, don’t worry about it, Summer. He means a lot to you, doesn’t he? So it wouldn’t make sense if you didn’t feel like you could defend him as well!” Beebee’s reassurance did ease the girl’s newfound despair just a little, but it still wasn’t enough to get her back on the high she was on before.

“I’m... I’m not being too selfish, am I?” She looked up at them, her watery blue eyes now overflowing with desperation. Pinky, whose nails had obviously been given ample time to dry, reached out and placed her hand gently on the cheerleader’s shoulder. 

“Look,” She spoke in a soft, comforting voice. “You’re doing this for  you.  This is what’s gonna make you feel... you know, right! And you know what? Sometimes you just... well, being selfish is the best thing, isn’t it?” She shrugged, not overly confident in her short attempt at therapy, but Summer smiled at her, gratitude written all over her face. 

“I-I suppose... I should probably call Chaz then... Might as well get this over with now...” She stood back up and began to make her way back to her dorm.

“Good luck, Summer!” Beebee exclaimed in her usual bubbly tone as Pinky gave her a small wave, before turning to her girlfriend once the girl was out of earshot. 

“God, I really hope she’ll be okay...”

 

It didn’t take long before Summer and the stuntman had arranged to meet up that afternoon, and, intending to make it as least awkward as she could, Summer was rehearsing the conversation in the mirror (not entirely aware of how she may look). However, when she heard the door open she jumped, clumsily picking up a hairbrush and trying to make it look as if she’d been brushing her hair all this time. Her roommate peered past the wall towards her, a subtle look of curiosity on her face.

“Hi, Summer!”

“Oh, hey!” Summer kept pretending to brush her hair.

“”Are you going anywhere?” The brunette inquired, the girl’s frantic hair-brushing having given her the idea. The blonde pulled the brush away from her head, slightly embarrassed.

“Not really... I’m just planning to see Chaz.”

“Oh, cool! Are you gonna do anything fun?” Summer hesitated before answering, her answer primarily honest.

“I’m... I’m actually just gonna talk to him about something...” Liberty tilted her head, waiting for an elaboration. “I’m going to break up with him.” Shock flashed across the other girl’s face.

“What? But I thought you were doing so well together!” Summer shrugged. “Why?”

“I just... can’t carry on with it,” She averted her eyes, embarrassed to tell her anything more. “I guess... I can tell you a little more after I’ve done it...” Liberty nodded. 

“Well, I hope he doesn’t get angry or anything...”

“No, I’m sure he’ll understand,” Summer reassured her, pulling her hair up into a ponytail. “Everything will be fine, I’m sure of it.” Liberty nodded, still reluctant to agree, butshe knew Summer was certain about what was best for her.

“Ok, well, we were supposed to be talking about it now anyway,” The cheerleader walked toward the door, turning to Liberty as she placed her hand on the doorknob. “I’ll see you later?” 

“Yeah! Good luck, Summer.” 

 

That day was a little colder than they had been recently; it wasn’t a drastic change, but it was still noticeable. Summer rubbed one arm with her free hand as she made her way over to the gym: this was where she would be meeting with the boy. Hopefully, the gym would be empty at this time, but if not they’d simply move to another location so their conversation would be confidential. As the building came into view, she began to feel a chill up her spine that wasn’t entirely caused by the weather. The cheerleader began to feel her mind spiralling into the worst possible scenarios: she didn’t want to believe that he’d lash out at her, but maybe Liberty’s suspicions could become a reality. Raising her head up to get a better look inside the barely illuminated building, she could see the boy, leaning against the wall and scrolling through his phone. From what Summer could see, he did look happy, which eased her fears a little, but she was still reluctant. Once she’d reached the door, she shook her head, pulling herself back into her plan: this was for the best... she was finally doing it for herself and lying about something like this for so long couldn’t be good for either of them. The door creaked as she pulled it open, immediately drawing the boy’s attention away from his phone.

“Oh, you’re finally here. I’ve been waiting for ages!” 

“Yeah... sorry...” He quickly walked up to her.

“So what was it you wanted to talk about?” 

“...” Despite the false rehearsals, Summer found herself ultimately speechless.

“Summer?” 

She couldn’t mask it- it was best to just get it out of the way.

“Look, Chaz, you have to promise not to get angry...”

“Oh no, you didn’t tell anybody about this, did you?”

“N-no... but the thing is, I don’t really think there should be a...” She signalled between them. “... _this_ ... anymore.” 

“Wh-what?”

“Look, I can’t do this any longer, okay? I can’t keep lying to everyone I care about.”

“Wait... so... you’re gonna...” The boy trailed off, but Summer nodded, understanding where he was going.

“I just... It feels right.”

“But what about what happened before?”

“I’m over that! I know there’s people I can trust, and I’ve already proved that I can protect myself.” It was if Chaz was trying to mask any emotion he was experiencing, because Summer was unable to read his face at all.

“A-are you sure?”

“Yeah... Sorry, but I think it’s probably best if we, uh, break up.” She said, ending her statement with quotation marks surrounding the final words. In a sudden fit of panic, the boy exploded, finally allowing Summer to see the terror in his eyes.

“Summer, you  _can’t_! ” He desperately took a hold of her shoulders. “What am I supposed to do?” 

“Chaz, it wont be that bad, just because I’m coming out doesn’t mean you have to as well...”

“B-but, I’m not gonna be able to hide it, Summer, especially not on my own!”

“I mean... you did it before...” 

“Yes, and I hated it! It was a fucking nightmare- at least until I had something to fall back on...”

“Is that really all you saw me as?!” It was Summer’s turn to raise her voice. “Some kind of...” She struggled to find the words. “Plan B?”

“Well, if you want me to be honest:  yes!  I feel like I made that fairly obvious the first time I spoke to you about it!”

“I can’t believe you.” Summer huffed, folding her arms.

“What?! I told you it would benefit both of us- not just me. I’m pretty sure they were my exact words.”

“So what? I’m not comfortable with doing this anymore, okay? End of story.” Chaz’s shoulders tensed as he searched for an argument- he was willing to do anything to stop her from leaving. 

“Summer,  _please_ -”

“No! This doesn’t even have to be about you, okay? This is just my choice. If you want you can go and find some other girl to fake it with.”

“But it won’t be the  same!”  He clenched his fists in desperation. “I don’t wanna sound... well...  _gay_ ,  but I actually feel like I can talk to you ‘bout anything, and I’ve known you for less time than most other people at this Hell-hole.” He could feel his face heat up, and, to his dread, his eyes start pricking as well. He quickly turned away from the girl, burying his face in his hands: he wasn’t about to let himself be seen crying in front of anybody, even though they might be the person he trusted the most.

“Look, Chaz,” Summer reached out, trying to comfort him by placing her hand on his shoulder. “It’s not like I’m completely leaving you on your own: we’re still friends!”

“But-”

“Chaz, just stop it.”

“I-I can’t! Summer, I honestly don’t think I can just...” He looked up at her, the usual pride his brown eyes had been replaced with pleading, but his expression made him look as if he’d been completely betrayed. “You might be ready for your life to fall apart, but  _I’m_ _not_ ,” T he cheerleader noticed his hands begin to shake. Absent-mindedly, he started pacing across the gym floor. “I can’t risk this getting out to anyone. I know people who know my family and...” He brought his hands up to his forehead. “If my  _parents_ find out, I’m DEAD, Summer!” His resilient demeanour began to crack as panic-filled tears began running down his face. Summer couldn’t help but feel bad for him, but at the same time she’d had her heart set on doing what she knew was best. 

Slowly, she took a hold of his wrist, hoping to calm him down in any way she could. When he refused to make eye contact (most likely due to embarrassment over losing his cool) she put one hand on either side of his face, directing his attention towards her and her only.

“Listen, you don’t have to get so worked up about this, Chaz, I promise. I’m not going anywhere, and you know if anyone tried anything I wouldn’t hesitate to fuck them up.”

“I can handle myself,” Chaz snapped, his eyebrows furrowed as he quickly wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket. “But, thanks... I  guess.”

“Nothing is going to happen to you, I promise...” Chaz nodded, a minuscule hint of a smile forming on his mouth. “But I just... have to be honest, okay? I’m sorry...” 

“Okay... fine. I guess I get it...” The pair smiled at each other, before their attention was captured by the quiet sound of small taps on the roof: it was only light, but it was clearly beginning to rain. 

“Oh, I think we should probably be getting back to our dorms...” Summer said, quietly, bringing her arms back to her side as she turned towards the door. “Talk to me anytime, okay?” The boy only nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets as he watched her go. Once it was definite that she was out of sight, he sighed, hiding his face with his hands again, knowing damn well that he wouldn’t be able to keep this lie up for much longer, even despite Summer’s caring reassurance.

 

Trudging back to the dorms through the miserable weather was the least of his problems, even though the raindrops may have began to coat his sunglasses in a sheet of water that blurred his vision to the point of blindness. He sighed, before taking them off and wiping the lenses on his jacket- only to notice a familiar figure standing at the bike shed, the roof sheltering him from the shower.

“Travis?” The person turned to face him, smiling at the sight of his roommate.

“Chaz! There you are: I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” He pulled out his phone from his pocket as the stuntman approached him. “I was just wondering if you saw my red phone case anywh- Hey, have you been crying?” Chaz sighed again, taking shelter under the shed with the other boy.

 

If this was inevitable, he could at least get it over with as soon as possible.


	10. Chapter 10

“ _Have you been crying?”_

He didn’t really want to answer this honestly, but the red around his eyes wouldn’t have supported his lie. 

 

“Yes.” 

“Oh... Are you alright?”

Chaz looked out at the grey setting that stretched out before them.

“I guess...”

“Did something happen with Summer?” He looked over at the other boy, surprised that he guessed it so quickly. “O-oh no, did you break up?”

Chaz let  out an exasperated sign, pushing a hand up to his forehead and letting it slide down his face. He wanted to tell him. He really, really wanted to tell him... but how he was going to undertake the confession was beyond him. Through the past few weeks, he had learned that simply telling things as they are is the best thing to do: so he took a deep breath and prepared himself for the worse. 

“We were never dating, Travis.” He averted his eyes, not wanting to look directly at the other boy, who, to Chaz’s surprise, began to laugh, a hint of confusion in his voice.

“Look, I get it: you just wanna forget it all, but it might help to talk ab-”

“ _No_ ,  Travis!” He snapped, looking back up at him. “We were literally never dating. We never went on a date, we never kissed or anything- it was all bullshit!” 

“Wh-” Travis’ bafflement was painted clear across his face, hiding from no one. 

“I... I asked her to stage a relationship with me so we could- so we... we wouldn’t be...” He paused, before grabbing the other boy’s arm and aggressively pulling him closer, significantly reducing the volume his voice and glaring Travis directly in his dark, surprised eyes. “Listen, dipshit, I’m about to tell you something that you will  _never_ r epeat to anybody, otherwise you’re dead- got it?” The blonde nodded frantically, somewhat honoured at having been chosen to have this secret shared with. “We... we were pretending so people would think we were... uh...” He looked down, his eyebrows furrowed. “...straight.” Travis stood back up straight, his eyes wide with surprise. 

“So... so it... Hang on, I need a second to... process...” Travis ran a hand through his hair. “Wait, so the rumours were true all along?”

“That’s what I just said, isn’t it, dumbass?” Chaz spat, a little disappointed by the boy’s reaction: he wanting the attention to be fully on him.

“Wow... a-and... you...  _you_ of all people...”

“What?” The shorter boy was almost yelling at this point. “If you have something to say-”

“No! No, it’s just... I didn’t... I didn’t know... does that make me a bad roommate?” Chaz felt the tension in his shoulders be released, at least just a little.

“You didn’t?” Travis shook his head, looking down at the floor, arms wrapped around his torso. “Huh... I guess Summer was right about not being paranoid...” He mumbled to himself, looking towards the inside of the shed.

“So... wh-why aren’t you two...” Chaz could conclude the question even if it was never completed.

“She wants to come out,” He put his hands on his hips. “Even after all  that stuff that happened before.”

“That’s... brave.” The pair stood in silence for a moment, both gazing out at the bleak weather. Thankfully, the rain had began to fall more softly while the boys were talking, which urged the shorter of the two to move forward, not worried about the droplets landing on his skin. 

“I’m going back to the dorm,” He began, his words drenched in a cold tone. “You can come too if I’m not too fucking disgusting to hang out with.”

“Ch-Chaz, wait!” The red-haired boy turned to see Travis holding his arm out in protest. Chaz couldn’t help but notice how he looked... worried.

“What do you want, chump?”

“I... I wanna tell you something as well,” He lowered his arm, inviting Chaz to come back to the temporary shelter, to which the boy reluctantly complied. “It only seems fair.”

“You have ten seconds to keep my attention.”

“I think I might like boys.” Chaz’s attention had definitely been kept. Unfortunately, he was unable to react on account of his heart exploding. “I-I think, at least... I used to think I was straight, I guess, but now I just... I don’t know.”

“Are you serious?” 

“Yeah, but I’m not... I’m not actually sure,” Travis averted his eyes. “I haven’t ever... y’know... been with someone who isn’t a girl... so I don’t know if-”

“You could try it.”

“Huh?” The boy’s sudden words caught Travis a little off guard. 

“Y-you could try it. Just to see if you like it.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know anyone who’d be willing to do that.”

“I am!” Chaz was beginning to grow frustrated at the boy’s scattered mind: he’d finally been given the chance he’d wanted for ages, and now he just wanted the blonde to shut up and get on with it.

“Y- you ?” Chaz nodded, feeling his face flush.

“Yeah. Just one time... No strings attached, okay? Just ‘cuz I’m gay doesn’t mean I like you.” Chaz mumbled, lying through his teeth. Travis looked a little dumbfounded, even though Chaz thought he looked adorable as a dark blush began creeping over his face- but then he broke into an excited smile.

“A-alright! What harm could it do?” He began to move closer to the other boy. “No strings attached- you’re sure?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, cool, but for the record, I’ve never actually kissed a boy before, so I don’t actually-”

“Yeah shut up.” Chaz cupped the blonde’s face with his hands, pulling him down to his level and pushing his lips against Travis’. The taller boy’s eyes widened in surprise at the sudden gesture, and stayed that way until the stuntman pulled away about five seconds later. 

 

“Well?” Chaz asked him, hands resting on his shoulders and tilting his head with a nervous smile. Travis obviously didn’t want to leave him without a response, but seemed to be too shocked to form any words... but he managed to break out of his freezing astonishment to take it into his own responsibility to wrap the other boy in a warm embrace, kissing him again with double the force than the stuntman had initiated before. 

“Mph-” Chaz couldn’t help but let out a small, muffled burst of ecstatic laughter before closing his eyes and melting into the display of “no strings attached” affection he was being shown. 

Already, this was double the length of the first kiss, and the pair broke apart momentarily at the realisation that they needed to breathe. Red faced, they looked each other right in the eyes, both sending the other a nervous smile before pulling them in again. Chaz brought his arms up to gently wrap them around Travis’ neck, running his hand through his soft blonde hair, as the taller boy ran his own hands from the red-haired boy’s neck down his back, then wrapped his hands around his waist, pulling him in even closer, not remotely bothered about the way his sunglasses collided with his face. Their promise had been completely shattered: there was no way in Hell that this was “no strings attached” anymore. They’d have stayed that way forever, immersed in the warmth of the other’s company against the bitter cold of the lonely afternoon- that is, if it weren’t for the quiet shutter noise that sent pure dread coursing through their veins. Immediately, they pushed the other away, almost tripping over the bikes in the shed as they turned to see the source of the sound, hoping with all they had that it was Summer of all people (or at least someone similar). Unfortunately, their luck didn’t seem to be in their favour at that moment, and their hearts sank as they saw who it was- and that he was holding a phone in his hands, positioned in the perfect angle for taking a photo.

 

“Aw, shit, that was supposed to be a silent capture!” The boy muttered to himself in frustration, bringing his phone down and frantically typing something.

“B-Brendan!” Travis spluttered, almost falling backwards at the sight of the same boy as the one in the office with them before.

“HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN THERE?!”  Chaz furiously demanded, even though tears of embarrassment burned his eyes.

“Long enough,” He claimed, shoving his phone back in his pocket. “You two were  really  getting into that, huh? I’d apologise, but I actually think it’s for the best that I distracted you. Fags.” He retorted, turning away.

“Uh- where the fuck are _you_ going?” Chaz ran after him, tightly gripping his wrist, causing him to wince in pain. “Delete that fucking picture, asshole!” Travis ran after them, not necessarily hoping to stop the fight this time, but definitely intending to keep Chaz out of harm. Brendan pulled his arm away and brought the phone out of his pocket again, waving it in their faces with a cruel, twisted smile on his face.

“Hell no! Have you seen it?” He got the picture up on his screen, and to the pair’s horror, the resolution was astounding: there was no denying it was them. “This shit is priceless- everyone’s gonna go insane once they realise their favourite Royal Academy Jock is a fag,” He laughed, starting to walk away again. “Once I post this, your lives are over... maybe next time you won’t get me detention, dickheads.”

“ Seriously?  _Three days of detention_?” Travis choked on his own disbelief. “Do you really think that’s fair?”

“And anyway, we didn’t even do that to you-” Chaz jogged after him; hopefully if he was to get close enough, he could swipe the device straight out of the boy’s hand. “Don’t be a prick, man.”

“I wouldn’t speak like that to the person who has the power to end your life..” Brendan paused in his tracks, his hands firmly pressed to his hips as he glared at Chaz, his piercing brown eyes threatening him without having to say anything. The stuntman scowled, but has to admit defeat: he did have the power to make his worst fear a reality. Travis noticed the downheartedness of his roommate, and nervously intervened.

“H-hey, listen, Brendan... I get that you have detention for another two days, which sucks, and I’m very sorry about that...”

“Damn right you should be! I’m missing my fucking game tournament and everything.”

“Oh, okay... well, how about we try and get Ms Marshall to cut your punishment for you, you delete that photo, and we all pretend that none of this ever happened?” He leant down slightly, bringing a hand up to his face and forcing a smile. It was definite that the boy spent a moment considering this option, but he came to the conclusion that spite was his main motivation.

“Nope, sorry. Now how about you stop being so gay and piss off...” He spat at the blonde, shoving him in the chest before turning away, only to be punched in the stomach by Chaz.

“No one picks on Travis but me.” He yelled through gritted teeth at the doubled-up figure on the ground in front of him. He kicked a small amount of dirt at Brendan as he attempted to regain his balance. 

“Whatever, beat me up as much as the hell you want, I’m still posting it, and there’s nothing you can do.” He ran off before the others were able to give him any more physical abuse, and it wasn’t long before he’d disappeared behind the despondent walls of another building.

 

It was only once he was completely certain that the boy had disappeared that Travis started to crumble. He buried his face in his hands and let out a long, exasperated sigh. Chaz tried to comfort him by placing a hand on his arm, but he pulled it away from him, taking a step in the opposite direction that the boy was standing. 

“Well, that’s my life over.”

“Travis, I-I didn’t...”

“No, I don’t wanna hear it. We should have at least waited until we were in our dorms.” Travis spun around to face Chaz.

“Yeah... I’m sorry, I just wanted to tell you as soon as I could...” He gave him a playful smirk. “I mean, don’t forget about the bright side of every situation.”

“What are you talking about? Why aren’t you totally freaking out?”

Chaz hid his arms behind his back for a moment, looking down at his feet, before his frown began to curve upwards and he pulled none other than Brendan’s phone out for the taller boy to observe.

“Wh- but he... you...”

“I grabbed it when he shoved you, so uh, thanks for the distraction, I guess?” Travis was still at a loss for words, so Chaz reached behind his back again, this time presenting something Travis would recognise in the dark. “I also got yours too.”

Travis’ awestruck expression stick on his face as he took the phone off of Chaz, looking down at it, then looking back up at him.

“You are  _incredible_.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y’all i have WRITERS BLOCK i hate this chapter and this is moving so slowly im about to go feral but anyway here u go

Although it was normal for the pair to be sitting in their dorm alone, the atmosphere was tense. It was needless to say that the boys had been a little shaken by the day’s previous occurrences, and still were not entirely at ease. Travis held Brendan’s phone in his hand, growing frustrated as he tried to guess the passcode to gain access: so far, every single attempt had been incorrect, and they’d been locked out five times already. He had to stop himself from hurling the device out of his window. Instead, he dropped the phone onto his bed, doubling over with a deep sigh as he buried his head in his hands. Chaz awkwardly side-eyed his roommate’s little tantrum, but didn’t say a word. He was a little upset to say the least: the pair hadn’t said so much as a word about what Brendan had interrupted, and Chaz was seriously considering asking about it- but he knew that trying to hack into a homophobe’s cellphone wasn’t that much of a romantic setting. He didn’t exactly want to say much in fear of accidentally mentioning it, but managed to express his concern for the boy’s state after he sat back up and sighed.

“You ok, man?”

“No- We’ve tried all the most popular passwords of this year and not one of them matches up!” He turned towards his roommate, a desperate look in his eyes. “Were never gonna get this right.”

“Don’t be so negative,” Chaz snapped, masking his own fear: obviously he felt the same way, but would rather die than admit it. “Look, if it’s not one of those then it probably something personal, right?” He took the phone into his own hands. “What’s his birthday?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

“...Good point... Hey, I swear he had a party or something a few weeks back.”

“The one he made posters for and then only three people showed up?” Chaz turned away, trying to hide his laughter with a cough.

“Y-yeah: that could have been a birthday or something.” Travis shrugged.

“Maybe. It was the 6th of June, wasn’t it?” Chaz typed the date into the keypad, only for the phone to buzz and return to the lock screen.

“Nope... That probably wasn’t even his birthday.”

Before they could become to upset about their failure, they were distracted by an aggressive knock on their door.

 

“That’s Brendan.” Travis whispered nervously to his roommate.

“Yeah, no shit!” Chaz whispered back, quickly stuffing the phone under his pillow. “Go answer it- and look sad,” He threw himself onto his mattress face down, and curled up into a ball, pretending to shake. “Look, I’m crying because I’m about to be outed and disowned by my family and will probably run away in a few days: is it convincing?”

“Not bad,” Travis got up, opening the door with a solemn expression on his face. Their suspicions had been correct.

“WHERE’S MY FUCKING PHONE?!” Travis widened his eyes in false shock.

“Y-your what?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Scott,” He shoved Travis in the shoulder. “I know you have it- I want it back.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Travis turned to his roommate. “Chaz, have you seen his phone anywhere?”

“Don’t talk to me...” He replied, the crack of his voice making him sound as if he was actually in tears. Huh... he’s actually a pretty good actor, Travis thought, before remembering what he was doing.

“Yeah, no, sorry man, we haven’t seen your phone. I hope you find it again soon-” Brendan choked in disbelief.

“No you don’t! You know perfectly well what I need it for!”

“Hey, I know what it’s like to lose your phone- God, the trauma still haunts me. Third grade was a horrible year.” Brendan snarled at the boys, but turned away.

“I’ve got my eye on you two.” Travis watched as he stormed down the hall, furiously entering his own dorm and slamming the door behind him. Once certain he was gone, Travis sighed with relief, closing the door and walking back inside, trying to fish the device out from under Chaz’s pillow, even though he was still lying on top of it.

“Right, so, where were we?” Chaz didn’t reply, but Travis didn’t think of it as anything. He turned back to the screen, typing in two more random guesses (which were both incorrect). “Ugh, this is gonna take forever...”

“Why don’t we just keep it?” Chaz asked, turning around to face his roommate sitting on the other bed.

“Well...He’s gonna need to get his phone back at some point...” Travis shrugged as Chaz turned over to look at him. “He’s already suspicious. I don’t think theft is the right way to go...”

“I’ve already stolen it!”

“W-well, you know what I mean...” He sighed. “You know, it’s times like these where I really regret not getting to know someone... Can you think of anything he’s interested in?”

“Burning homosexuals.” Chaz joked, lifting his head off the pillow and propping it up with his hand.

“Ha ha, very funny. Must I remind you what we’re trying to do here?” Chaz’s playful smirk faded in shame. “Be serious.”

“Uh... Well there was that one game he wouldn’t shut up about... He had the high score didn’t he? I can’t remember the title but it was something stupid like “Happy Fun Feral” whatever.” Travis brought his index finger up to his mouth as he tried to piece the clues together.

“Super Fun Fun Panic?”

“Ew, was that  _really_   the name?”  Chaz looked to the side for a moment, trying to answer his own question. “Yeah, I think that was it- I mean, I’m pretty sure...” 

As if a groundbreaking discovery had just been uncovered, Travis’ eyes suddenly lit up as he grabbed his own phone, searching something and smiling as he turned back to Brendan’s.

“What are you doing?”

“If he’s so proud of it, then there’s a good chance the password might be the date it was released, right?” Chaz could hear him mutter the numbers “1104” under his breathe, before looking up at him with ecstatic relief glittering in his eyes.

“N-no way!” Chaz exclaimed, hardly able to believe that they’d actually achieved what they were striving to. Ecstatic, he jumped off his bed and sat next to the blonde, looking over at the screen. 

 

As soon as it was unlocked, Travis opened the gallery, and just as expected, the picture of the two boys was the first thing they saw. Unknown to the taller boy, Chaz shot a subtle side glance at him, still subconsciously expecting him to bring it up. However, Travis simply deleted it and let out a long sigh of relief. Chaz couldn’t help but feeling a little upset at the boy’s reaction.

“Well... that was a lot of work... I’m glad it’s over with now,” He turned to Chaz and shrugged. “We should probably get this back to him now...” The red haired boy glanced down at it, before looking back up at his roommate and biting his lip.

“Yeah but... I kinda wanna look through it.” Travis furrowed his eyebrows and lowered the phone as he looked at the boy. 

“Really? I’d have thought you’d learn a lesson about privacy after this whole thing- that basically makes you as bad as him.” 

The pair just sat on Travis’ bed, looking at each other for a few moments in a heavy silence, before their eye contact broke and Travis began to scroll through Brendan’s camera roll with Chaz inching closer to get a better look. It wasn’t too far from what they were expecting: an abundance of video game and technology related images with the occasional picture of him and a few other people (which, in all fairness, might have been blackmail as well, but the boys didn’t exactly care enough to analyse it) but then Chaz’s eyes landed on a certain photo that he recognised was a note of some sort- but wasn’t entirely sure what it said.

“Oh, look at that one.” He directed, pointing to the one he was referring to. Travis complied, and once they had zoomed in both boys started reading it. 

“Oh my God...” Travis muttered.

“Hey, don’t spoil anything.” Chaz told him, reluctant to admit his anger at his own slow reading speed. The note in question seemed to portray a list of names (Summer’s included, but Chaz’s left out).

“W-wh... huh?” Chaz clearly didn’t fit the pieces of the puzzle together as quickly as Travis was able to.

“Oh he’s like... a genuine homophobe, huh?” Chaz still looked confused. “They’re all gay.”

“ _Really_? ” He looked back at the list. “Ian? That blonde guy with the bitchy librarian aunt?”

“Yeah... I mean, I’m pretty sure I heard him mention it at one point.” Chaz’s eyes widened.

“How the fuck do you know more about everyone if I’m more popular than you?”

“Because I listen?” He looked back at the list. “And... I mean, I don’t wanna sound rude or anything, but he isn’t exactly a “Chaz McFreely” of the school...” Chaz smirked, the sparkle in his eye indicating his jokey intention.

“Aww, you think I’m cool.” He mocked, leaning forward and resting his chin on the blonde’s shoulder. Travis rolled his eyes, leaving the gallery and moving onto the messaging feature, obviously having sunk down to Chaz’s level.

“Doesn’t everyone? I thought you were used to it by now...” He grinned at the boy on his shoulder, before looking back at the screen. 

“Hey- is that a chat with Violet? I didn’t know they were friends...” Travis opened the chat, only for his query to be disproven. The chat was only a few messages long, and consisted of Brendan asking her out- only to be met with a simple “no”. Chaz couldn’t help but laugh at this, while Travis looked down in pity.

“He deserves it.” Chaz retorted, going back and scrolling through other chats: which were actually quite similar to the first one, but the rejections became a lot ruder. Chaz didn’t want to make too much fun of him, but had to admit that he was had a strong feeling of schadenfreude. “Summer wasn’t lying when she called him a lonely prick, huh?” 

“I feel kinda bad for him...”

“ _Why_?  Did you forget what he did?”

“I guess... but really, at least he tried...” Chaz gently punched him in the arm, during up straight again.

“Stop being so soft.” He ordered, snatching the phone into his own hands and reading through a few more chats.

“Y-y’know, I kinda feel like we’ve invaded his privacy enough.” Travis said, shame in his voice as he tried to take the device back, only for Chaz to move it farther away from him, eyes still glued to the screen.

“Get your own stolen phone.” He laughed, crawling up the other end of the bed, only for Travis to follow him at twice the speed.

“N-no, give me-” He said through his laughter as he tried to reach over for it. His eyes fell to Chaz’s free arm, which was simply held at his side. This was a foolish decision, as it made it easy for Travis to grab it, pulling his roommate back and being able to pin him down on the bed.

 

“ Hey!”  Chaz frantically tried to wriggle out of the other boy’s grasp, the phone still held tightly in his hand, but all this achieved was Travis smiling at him in some sense of pity. He stopped struggling for a moment, looking up at the other boy in frustration, but couldn’t help the corner of his mouth from twitching upwards. The pair stayed like that for a moment, Travis’ face turning into a light shade of pink, before shaking his head to wake himself up and reaching up to take the phone. Immediately, Chaz noticed the opening for escape and briskly pulled his hand away, shocking Travis into leaning back a little, and since he was still holding on to one of Chaz’s wrists, both of them ended up rolling off the bed.They simply laid there for a moment, Travis still holding onto Chaz while the shorter boy was lying on his chest, half trying to process what just happened, before Chaz started laughing. Travis imitated his roommate’s reaction, and allowed his limbs to relax while the other boy buried his face into his shoulder. In an awkward position, Chaz scrambled off the taller boy and sat up again, glancing down at the phone.

“Ok, maybe we  should  give it back now...”

Travis sat up too, a playful smile still on his face.

“We probably shouldn’t give it to him directly... Let’s just hand it into Rosalyn.” Chaz nodded in agreement as he stood up, brushing himself off and finally handing the phone to Travis. As he watched his roommate head towards the door, his slight unhappiness from before returned: after everything, not a word about before had been brought up. He’d have to face it and ask directly. 

 

After the meeting with Rosalyn, the pair walked back towards their dorm room, the sky only now becoming dark: it was still bleak and grey, and the clouds blocked out any sunset if there was one worth viewing. The walk back was silent, only accompanied by the occasional chirp of a cricket or a distant birdsong, and all they did was move forward in a fixed route- at least, until they walked past the bike shed. Chaz took note of their location and slowed down a little, hanging his head, hoping that Travis wouldn’t take more of his downheartedness. 

“Chaz?” 

Unfortunately, it was obvious enough to comment on.

“What?” 

“You okay?”

After everything, Chaz had finally learned to take caution in his actions, and hesitated before speaking.

“I... I have to talk to you... in the dorms though, not here.”

Travis nodded at him, and the pair continued at the same speed as before. Chaz was so invested in what he was going to say that he didn’t even notice the time pass before they’d reached their door. After they entered, Chaz fell on his own bed, staring up at the ceiling. Travis sat on his own, looking at the boy with concern in his eyes.

“So...?”

Chaz sighed.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“What do you  _think_ ,  dumbass?” He snapped, before softening his tone again. “For dragging you into this. Not even you deserve to get all wrapped up in stuff like this...”

“No- hey, don’t apologise, it’s probably best to get used to it, right?” Chaz ears pricked up, and he turned his head to face the other boy.

“So... wait, so you’re sure that you-”

“I kissed you back, didn’t I?” Travis knew where the conversation was going, and even though he hadn’t wanted to mention it before this point, he was glad they were getting it out the way. “I’d say that’s a pretty definitive response.”

“Oh... cool...” He buried his head in his hands, facing the ceiling again. “Travis, don’t get mad at me...” He sat up, handing his legs over the edge of the bed. Once again, his uncharacteristic anxiousness was displayed, which, for some reason, made Travis feel more comfortable with the conversation. “I know we... I know we said “no strings attached” but...” Travis tilted his head, waiting for Chaz to continue, but after a few seconds it was clear that he wasn’t up to finish his thought.

“Hang on,” Travis grinned, trying to lighten the mood. “Do you  _like_ me?”

“Shut the  fuck up !” Chaz attempted to intimidate him into silence, but his voice shook with embarrassment. “I never said that!”

“Ah- you literally just did!”

“N-no!” It was so clear that he was lying, and it was also clear that he was upset. Travis was filled with guilt at his attempt to make a joke out of something so personal.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you or anything.”

“You didn’t!” Chaz snapped, wiping his eyes with the ends of his sleeves. “You’re just such a chump that it makes me depressed.”

“No, seriously, do you though? Just... I won’t joke about it again, just give me a straight answer,” The blonde paused for a moment, biting his lip trying not to smile while realising what he’d just said. “No pun intended.” Chaz didn’t reply, but he averted his eyes and shrugged, his face almost the same shade as his hair. Travis couldn’t help but smile: he’d never really thought about Chaz in that way, but now he’d found out, his face flushed and he could feel his heart speeding up with excitement. “Did this just come with the kiss or-”

“No... I... it’s been ages.” Chaz mumbled, still embarrassed, but judging by Travis’ warm reaction, it was safe to be honest. 

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Actually I... I did try to, I swear. I just wussed out...” Travis got up and sat next to Chaz as he began to open up. “And I was worried you’d tell someone...”

“I would never do that, I promise!”

“I know... but... I can’t risk it. I just... the thought of it getting out to everyone scares the shit out of me, Travis.” He dug his fingernails into his arm, gritting his teeth. Travis gently tried to release his tension by placing his hand on his shoulder.

“But look, Brendan nearly did, and you managed to stop that, didn’t you?” Chaz looked up at him. “You can stick up for yourself, right? And you have people who care about you- what is there to be so afraid of?” Chaz mumbled something under his breath. “Huh?”

“My... my parents.”

“What?”

“I can’t risk them finding out about me. I don’t know why, but... part of me just knows that if I ever came home and told them about it, they would literally kill me.” 

“N-no they wouldn’t...”

“How do you know? You’ve never even met them!” Chaz raised his voice, tears streaming down his face once again. Travis pulled him in, wrapping his arm around him as Chaz buried his face into the boy’s chest.

“I guess... but, well, maybe it’s not as bad as you think?” There was no reply. “...And if something does happen then, um, I’ll be here for you if you need me...” He pulled the boy in closer. 

“Seriously?”

“Yeah!”

“You don’t... you don’t have to do anything... I... I don’t want you to...”

“No, listen, I care about you. I promise,” Chaz looked up at him. “Everything’s gonna be fine.” Chaz averted his eyes, feeling his face heat up again, before wrapping his roommate in his arms, letting out a grateful yet nervous laugh. Travis hugged him back, happy that he was feeling better, and began to revert to the initial topic.

“Anyway... um... Now that we’ve got that sorted-”

“I love you.” Although the statement was sudden and unexpected, Travis smiled.

“I love you too.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hoes mad

“So let me get this straight...” Summer held the phone in front of her face, her mouth fixed in a slightly confused smirk as she spoke. “You kissed for the first time last night, and  two hours later  you told him you loved him?”

Chaz shrugged on the other end of the video call, understanding the girl’s confusion (even he could admit that, maybe, the pair had moved a little too quickly) but had no traces of regret in his voice.

“Eh, best to get it over with, right?”

“Romantic.” Summer raised her eyebrows sarcastically as Chaz rolled his eyes in response.

“I mean, _I_ thought it was cute.” Travis butted in, moving into the shot and wrapping his arms loosely around his roommate’s shoulders.

“I’m not cute, you asshole.”

“You look like an angry chipmunk.” Summer nodded in agreement.

“I hate both of you.” Both blondes just laughed at Chaz’s angry outburst, but knew by now not to take it too literally, especially since he began to rest his head on his roommate’s chest. Summer bit her lip, averting her eyes and wrapped a lock of her hair around her finger. It was probably the pair’s small display of affection that struck her with this idea... but maybe it was the best time. Thankfully, the dorm room was empty apart from her, so she could speak about it openly.

“Chaz?”

He broke his gaze on Travis and looked back at Summer.

“Do you think I should ask Liberty out?” 

“Oh my God- yes! Absolutely!” She could see both boys getting excited over the phone, but didn’t want them to raise their expectations too much.

“Guys, wait... Calm down... I don’t even know if she likes girls, let alone me...”

“Oh come on, Summer,” Travis began, pushing Chaz out of the shot a little and becoming Summer’s prime focus. “You obviously have it bad for each other- and anyway, what’s the worst that can happen?” Summer didn’t reply, so Travis simply took it into his own hands to continue speaking. “Lib’s a reasonable person, right? She won’t do anything bad to you, and even if she does say no, she’d still wanna be your friend.” Once the boy had finished talking, Summer smiled, nodding, her eyes directed to the right.

“I suppose...” The cheerleader ran her hand through her hair as a pink tint appeared on her cheeks. “She would do that, wouldn’t she?” Her attention was captured once again by one of the boys clicking his fingers.

“Hey- wake up, Hayley Kiyoko. Are you gonna do it or not?” Chaz asked impatiently, one eyebrow raised as he awaited her response. 

Summer bit her thumbnail in consideration: she did want to, but it was risky. Then again, what if Liberty returned her feelings? She took another glance at the boys; they’d dropped the phone on the bed as she was debating with herself, but even so, she could see their hands intertwined as they whispered about something Summer couldn’t exactly make out: if everything turned out perfectly for Chaz, who’s to say it wouldn’t happen for her?

“Yeah, why not?” She said with a shrug as the boys picked up the phone again. 

“Good for you, Summer!” Travis smiled at her, so it was only fitting that she smiled back at him, grateful for his support.

“When are you gonna do it?”

Summer tilted her head: now the weekends were over, she had a little less free time, but perhaps it would be best to do it when they both had more time.

“I guess... I’ll ask her after school tomorrow...”

“Tomorrow?” Chaz tilted his head. “Why not today?”

“Well... I wanna drop some hints first... just so it’s not a complete surprise. I don’t want to scare her or anything.”

“Yeah, good idea.” Chaz admitted with a nod, which caused Travis to side-eye him with a skeptical smirk.

“I’m surprised you’re supportive of that,” He joked, pulling the red haired boy closer, then looking at Summer, a little embarrassed. “N-not that it’s a bad plan, but...”

“No, I get it. If I’m honest, so am I.”

“Whatever,” Chaz shrugged. “I live my life fast.”

“Too fast for romance, then?” The taller boy grinned while Chaz scrunched up his face in playful annoyance.

“How’s this for romance?” He asked, before draping an arm around Travis’ shoulder, leaning up, and pressing his lips against his roommate’s. As Travis placed a hand on his face, starting to kiss him back, Summer couldn’t help but look away, a furious blush on her face: not that she didn’t think it was cute, it was just she felt as if she was greatly invading their privacy.

“Okay, alright, cool, u-uh... I’m gonna... I should probably get to class soon.” Chaz only shot her a short thumbs up, refusing to break the kiss. 

Awkwardly, Summer hung up with a nervous laugh and began to gather the things she’d need for the day. She hoped that they wouldn’t do that for much longer: she wasn’t the only person who had work to attend to. 

 

It was a good day for Summer to attempt to subtly warn Liberty about what she was intending to do: their day consisted mostly of subjects they shared, and of course they were sitting next to each other in every one, and over the day she’d tried to be as obvious as possible, but cautious as to not give it entirely away. It was finally the last period of the day, and it wasn’t surprising that Summer was struggling to focus on her work, and even though she was trying her hardest, Liberty couldn’t either.

“Do you know what the answer to... um...” Summer scanned through her worksheet, trying to find an unattended question of moderate difficulty to ask for help. “Number twelve is?”

Liberty scanned over her own worksheet this time, running her finger across the messy yet legible workings out on the page. “It’s 57... I’m pretty sure...” Summer scribbled it down.

“You’re so smart.” She said with a warm, playful grin. Liberty giggled at the compliment, a grateful pink tint running across her face.

“Thanks... so are you.”

“No, you.”

“No,  _you_ !”

“Holiday, Lee, could you please stop messing around and finish your work?” The teacher snapped, tired of the girl’s childish behaviour. They hung their heads, eyes focused on the work, before glancing at each other again and biting their lips as they grinned, trying to prevent themselves from bursting out in laughter. Not that it came as a surprise to her, but every time the two made eye contact, she became more and more eager to confess to her, and it wasn’t even a thought at this point that something could go wrong. She just wanted to be honest with the girl- honest like they’d always been with each other. Her mind darted to the rumours from months ago, and how she had reacted: she’d stuck by her side, she didn’t think any less of her, and she didn’t act any differently either... Yeah, she thought, everything will be fine.

“Summer?” The other girl’s whisper snapped her out of her daydream, causing her to turn towards the brunette, who had a small amount of concern fixed into her expression.

“Sorry... I was a million miles away.” Summer shook her head, waking herself up and allowing Liberty to speak.

“I was just making sure you were alright, you looked kinda worried.”

“I did?” Summer raised one eyebrow, cocking her head. “Huh, well, I’m fine! Don’t worry about it!” She smiled at the girl, and finally, the last bell of the day rang. As the students scrambled to leave, the teacher tried to call out something about homework, but stopped after realising that nobody was going to end up doing it. As Summer and Liberty walked down the hallway together, their arms linked and grinning at each other, Summer started becoming more obvious.

“So, Lib...” The brunette faced the other girl with inquisition at what she was about to ask. “...Just wondering, are you dating anyone?”

Liberty sighed, looking down at her feet, making Summer feel bad: she hadn’t meant to dishearten her. “No. I wish I was, though.”

“You do?”

“Yeah... it sounds nice... hey, do you think you could help me find a boyfriend?” She said, her eyes lighting up. 

“Ah...”

“Please? I could find one for you in return?”

“W-well, me and Chaz literally just broke up, so I’m not...”

“Didn’t you mention that he already found somebody else, though?” Summer paused. She hadn’t remembered it at first, but now it was mentioned she could somewhat recall letting it slip. Hopefully she didn’t go into any details...

“I guess so...” 

“Come on, Summer, it’ll be fun! I think...” Summer hesitated before speaking again.

“Hm... maybe... Uh, this might be a bit of a weird question, but do you... would you...” Liberty politely waited for the girl to finish her question. Summer glanced around, noticing that a lot of the people had disappeared from the building, most likely back to their rooms, but still, Summer lowered her voice. “Do you ever think you could go out with a girl?”

Liberty simply looked up at Summer, her eyes widened and her mouth very slightly hanging open, not reluctant to display her reaction to the sudden question. 

“I-I... I don’t... I’m not sure...” Summer noticed her face flush before she looked away. “I... I guess so...” It took all of her willpower for the taller girl to stop herself from laughing in pure excitement. However, she noticed that maybe her reaction was too small, as Liberty looked as though she was hurt.

“Oh, um... cool.”

“Mm...” Summer began to panic, she was making the worst of a situation that was so important, but wasn’t entirely sure what to do. As the pair stepped out of the building, Liberty’s sadness became a lot more prominent, and Summer found herself simply not being able to handle that. She couldn’t wait until tomorrow afternoon.

 

“Sorry! I-I don’t want to upset you... I don’t... I didn’t wanna embarrass you...”

“No, it’s ok. I just don’t want you to hate me.” Liberty kept walking, her hands shoved into her pockets and the solemn expression remaining on her face.

“I like you!” Summer burst out, desperate to simply get it over with at the sight of the other girls state. Looks like Chaz was right: maybe it was more effective to do things quickly.

“Yeah, cool. I like you too...”

“No, Lib, I  _really_   like you. ”  The brunette finally stopped, turning on her heel to face the flustered mess that was her best friend.

“What?”

“I... I’m sorry... I wanted to tell you sooner but then all the rumours got out and I didn’t want everyone to, y’know, react that way for real...” She buried her head in her hands, not entirely expecting an answer, yet still feeling a little upset when she didn’t receive one. “I’m sorry... I just thought... maybe if I waited it’d...” She shook her head, feeling her eyes begin to prick. Finally, Liberty opened her mouth to speak, but found that she couldn’t get the words out and closed it again. Summer ran her hand up her own arm and looked to the ground as tears spilled out of her eyes. In hindsight, she should have prepared for something like this: Liberty was just a naturally timid person- having to deal with this couldn’t be easy for her.

“S-Summer, I’m...” Liberty tried as hard as she could to respond, but was tripping over her words and constantly hesitating. “I don’t... I don’t think I...” She began taking a few step backwards, small enough to not make much of a difference, yet big enough for Summer to notice. The girls panicked reaction felt like a stab in the heart, and pure regret coursed through her veins. Summer didn’t even care that her feelings weren’t going to be returned at this point: she just couldn’t handle losing Liberty, and there was no way she’d be able to come to terms with the fact that it was her fault. “I’m sorry... I don’t know what to say.” Liberty let out a quiet, shaky laugh, but she looked like she was going to snap under the amount of pressure that was being left on her.

“Y-you don’t have to say anything... I’m sorry, don’t be upset- this is my fault...” Summer lowered her voice at the last part, and Liberty’s retreat became more prominent.

“I... I have homework to do.” She declared, turning, running off, and not looking back, leaving Summer standing alone outside the school building.

 

———

 

The knock on the door came as a shock to the boys: they weren’t expecting anybody to alert them, and they hadn’t done anything that would deserve confrontation. Travis stood up, placing his book down on the table next to his bed, and went to open the door. His eyes widened as he saw who it was, but his pleasant surprise was replaced with pity as he noticed the way her makeup had been smudged. 

“S-Summer, are you ok?” She nodded. “Hey, uh...” He gently took her by the wrist, leading her inside the room. Chaz let out a tiny gasp at the sight of her face.

“Are you crying?”

“No. It’s raining outside.” All sarcasm completely flying over his head, Chaz slowly turned to glance out the window. The burning sun was incredibly visible. Travis sighed at his display of idiocy.

“What happened, Summer?” He asked as she sat down next to Chaz, who let her limply rest her head on his shoulder. 

“I... I told her I liked her...”

“I thought you were gonna-”

“It just... I felt like I had to do it  _then_ ,  you know?” Chaz nodded.

“So... um... what did she say?” Summer picked herself up off the boy’s shoulder, and stared at him in genuine disbelief that he asked that. Travis glared at him, trying to tell him to shut up, and once he realised what was going on, he slouched over, his face burning. Ignoring this, Travis continued the conversation.

“Look, Summer, I’m sure it’ll be okay! Just because she said no doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to-”

“She changed the subject and then ran away.” Travis bit his lip.

“Ah... well, maybe she doesn’t really like girls?”

“No, I literally asked her: she said she’d consider it... that’s basically a baby-gay way of coming out.” Travis looked down at his feet, but looked back up as Chaz spoke again, expecting him to make things worse again.

“Well... what if she just got scared?”

“What?”

“Yeah! Like... maybe she likes you so much that she doesn’t even want to admit it, and that’s why she ran away?”

“That... no... that can’t be it, right?” Summer looked back and forth between the two boys.

“Actually,” Travis began. “That actually sounds plausible.” Chaz grinned proudly at the validation he received.

“See! I’m sure she’ll come around soon enough!” He placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Summer.”

She smiled at him, grateful at the suggestion, but still wasn’t entirely convinced. Although she was certain she’d entirely messed up and there wouldn’t be any hope for the two girls, she couldn’t help subconsciously wishing with all her heart that Chaz was right.


	13. Chapter 13

Just as expected, Summer found herself having to make various adaptions after the incident with Liberty: the biggest of which being her (hopefully) temporary room change. After two days of the pair avoiding each other, sharing a dorm became too awkward to bear, and Summer took it into her own hands to fix it. She’d began staying with Pinky and Beebee, which didn’t bother them at all (if anything it came as a coincidence, giving them an excuse to sleep in each other’s arms). Still, Summer still felt bad about getting in their way despite what they told her, and she felt even worse about just leaving without a word. She couldn’t help worrying about how the other girl might be coping: was she as torn up as Summer was about this? Maybe she was even worse... But then again, it could be that everything would end up being alright in the end, even though the chances seemed slim. The weight of the concern caused her to stare down at the ground as she walked, absorbed in her own world of thought, and didn’t pay any mind to her surroundings. That is, until she was forced to wake up after colliding with a girl she had never seen before.

 

“Watch it, dumbass.” She snapped at Summer, turning around and placing her hands on her hips. The blonde jumped in shock at the sudden contact, shaking her head to reorient herself and trying to get a good look at the other girl. It was fair to say that Summer was a little startled at the sight of her, but it wasn’t exactly something she could control. The style the girl emitted was none less than scarily intimidating: she was much taller than Summer, with her hair tied up into two black pigtails with electric purple streaks running through them. She wore a dark pair of jeans with belts loosely wrapped around her hips, and a double layered purple T-shirt, but the thing that stood out the most was the fact that there was an eyepatch concealing her left eye. Summer’s bewildered gaze must have lasted just a second too long, as the girl’s face twisted into an impatient scowl and she snapped her fingers.

“What are  you looking at?”

“A-ah, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to bump into you!” Summer couldn’t help but step back in fear.

“Damn right you didn’t,” The girl placed her hands on her hips and leaned forward. “And if it ever happens again, you’re dead meat.”

Summer nodded frantically, her lips pressed together, receiving a sigh from the other who began to mumble as she turned away. “I’ve been here less than five minutes and I’m already sick of these stupid little straight girls...”

“Hey, I’m not-” Summer paused just in time, looking around. There were a few pairs of eyes on her... after the Liberty incident, she’d decided to postpone her honesty for a later date. Unfortunately, the girl looked over her shoulder, completely knowing of what she almost said.

“You what?”

“Brandi!” Summer’s eyes darted towards a figure that even she was relieved to see. “I’ve been waiting for you- if I’m supposed to show you around this dusty ass place then I expect you to follow me!”

“Hi, Esma.” Summer whispered, only getting a small nod of acknowledgement back, before she grabbed (what Summer presumed her name was) Brandi’s forearm and dragged her along towards the main hall, an unimpressed expression on the taller girl’s face. Summer just watched them go, not entirely sure how to react to that encounter, but soon after started to make her way to her next class. For some reason, she couldn’t help hoping that she’d be able to talk to that Brandi girl a bit more.

 

It felt as though time had been reversed entirely, but Summer’s point of view had been altered enough for her to be out of the spotlight. Once again, she found it difficult to focus on the work she’d been given, but this time it was due to the rumbles of voices that kept circling her mind: The name of the new girl was being dragged through the mud in the same way the cheerleader’s name had been done with months ago. As it turned out, she wasn’t the only person who had picked up on this.

“You haven’t had a chance to meet her yet, right?” Travis quietly asked his boyfriend, his head propped up lazily by his hand as he rested his elbow on the table. Chaz shook his head.

“Nah, but she sounds pretty cool.”

“She threatened to kill me.” Summer joked, though a blank expression was on her face. Both boys seemed to be taken aback.

“Cool.” Chaz muttered, raising one eyebrow. Summer only pushed him in the shoulder in response, but Travis seemed a little more concerned.

“Really? Why?”

“Oh, I just bumped into her ‘cuz I wasn’t focused... No big deal: It was an empty promise.” Summer said, hoping that she was being honest. She hadn’t looked too deep into the answer she gave, but Travis’ concerned expression deepened, indicating that she hadn’t eased his worry. 

“Summer, are you sure you’re okay?”

“What? Y-yeah, of course!”

“Well I mean... this whole thing with Liberty obviously isn’t benefiting you... maybe you should just talk to her.” Summer went quiet.

“I agree with Trav, Summer.” Chaz shrugged, turning to her. “I’d say you shouldn’t think about it too much. Y’know, Lib probably misses you too... how long has it been since you last spoke?” Summer looked thoughtful for a second.

“I think... a week and a half? Maybe a bit more?”

“See! What good is that doing?” 

“Not... not a lot...” Summer admitted reluctantly, slouching and staring at the table, yet the boys could still see the unwillingness in her eyes. “Ugh, but she’s just gonna avoid me. She doesn’t want to talk to me at all... she hasn’t even been coming to cheer practice: and honestly, I get why.” She allowed her head to fall limply in her hands.

“Well...” Chaz piped up. “It’s only a few weeks till graduation, right? You’ll only have to suffer until then.” Despite genuinely thinking he was helping, Travis slapped him across the back of the head (not hard enough to hurt him, but he still complained) and Summer let herself fall onto the desk head-first, an exasperated sigh escaping her lips.

“She’s never gonna speak to me again.”

“Then just text her or something.” 

“Yeah, because she probably hasn’t already blocked my number.” Summer glanced up at Travis, her head still fixed on the table. He winced, the topic of phones somehow bringing him a better understanding of Summer’s point of view.

“Then leave her a note.” Chaz rolled his eyes; unlike Travis, he didn’t seem to have the ability to sympathise with the girl.

“Chaz, just stop talking. I don’t expect you to understand.” Summer huffed, turning her head so it laid on her cheek.

“What? I understand! I totally understand!”

“You are literally holding Trav’s hand as we speak.” As if he’d forgotten, he glanced down under the table to his right hand.

“So I am.”

Travis yanked his hand away from the shorter boy’s, causing him to look a little offended, and he turned back to Summer.

“No, but seriously, you’re gonna have to reach out to her eventually,” He began. “Even if you’re reluctant, you gotta make an effort at least, right?” Summer sighed again.

“I guess... but... Oh! Travis!” Sudden excitement lifting her head up and fixing her posture again as she looked towards the blonde boy with desperate eyes. “Could you ask her?”

“What?”

“Can you ask her to meet up with me? I mean... I don’t wanna scare her, but I’ll figure everything out and I’m pretty sure you’re the one out of all of us that she trusts the most...” Both of them glanced towards the stuntman, who’s eyes shot between them, then just shrugged.

“Seems fair.”

The responsibility rested on Travis now.

“I-I, um... I don’t see why not...” Summer smiled with gratitude at the thought of reconnecting with her friend, and began to plan how everything would ideally go.

 

“Hey, Liberty!”

Travis was sure that he’d be able to find the girl in the cafeteria during the lunch break, and thankfully, he was right. She looked a little surprised for him to call her attention, but happy nonetheless.

“Oh, hi, Travis.” She walked up to him as he tried to push past the crowds.

“How have you been?”

“Um...” It was clear she was hesitant to answer honestly... but Travis completely understood: she’d never been the type of person to intentionally worry others. “I’m okay!” Considering this, it wasn’t a surprise that she was quite good at masking her misery with a believable grin. 

“Uh... okay...” Travis had been ordered to be careful with the message. “I don’t mean to upset you or anything, but there is something that this person wants to speak about.” He could swear he saw pure terror the girl’s face, but it passed as quickly as it appeared.

“Um... alright? Who is it?” She definitely already knew the answer to that. Travis averted his eyes and bit his lip for a second.

“It’s... It’s Summer. Look, I know what happened, and I know everything that’s been going on, but she really misses you, Lib. I think she just wants to apologise.”

“For what?”

“Well... for making you uncomfortable, I guess? She just doesn’t want to be so distant anymore.” Liberty looked at the ground for a while, nervously running her fingertips up and down her opposite arm. When she didn’t reply, Travis simply decided to proceed. “She wants to meet you after school. Near the end of the top field... y’know, near the orange trees. You coming?” She shrugged.

“I’ll see if I’m free, but...” She lowered her voice, facing back up at Travis with her eyes darting to the left. “I can’t... really promise anything... I’m sorry.” Travis nodded knowingly- of course he didn’t want to place either of the girls under pressure, but didn’t want them to stay this way for any more time.

“Alright... well, see you later maybe?” Liberty smiled at him as he turned, walking away to meet the other students that had been slyly observing the entire interaction. 

“So?” Chaz began, but Travis’ downhearted expression spelt everything out for him. “Oh...”

“I mean... she said she might come...”

“You know damn well that’s just shy people code for “piss off”...” Chaz folded his arms, looking at the ground.

“I’m going anyway... I don’t care if I get stood up, I at least want to see if she...” Summer trailed off, following her incomplete statement by looking off to the side and running her hand through her hair. “Look, there’s still a point.” Neither of her friends responded, leaving Summer to release one final sigh before she trudged away, her feet dragging behind her, clearly downcast. Still, the boys refused to speak, but, after glancing at each other, knew that they both were hoping for the very best for the girls in the end.

 

———

 

Just as she’d promised, Summer was at the destination, patiently waiting for any sign of the other girl. Just as she had been for the past three hours. A few companions had come and gone, not wanting to leave her on her own, but Summer refused to budge: she was still hoping that the girl would show her face... but at this rate it appeared to even her that her wishes were futile. She let herself lean back on one of the trees, sliding down into a sitting position and letting herself bury her head in her arms which were resting on top of her knees. Liberty didn’t want anything to do with her anymore. She had to face the facts... but for now she only let herself break down as much as she needed before she could let it pass. Her head started to pound after a while, and the peaceful chirp of insects hiding in the grass became blurred out as the girl let herself cry. She was trapped in her own mind for a long while- much longer than she’d hoped- and was only brought back to reality when a familiar person sat down next to her.

“Are you gonna cut that out? I can hear you sobbing from my fuckin’ dorm!” Summer looked up to see the girl in purple from earlier, yet despite her snide remarks, her face displayed a level of empathy that the blonde definitely wouldn’t have expected for her to even be able to posses. Still, Summer snuffed and turned away, embarrassed to be seen at her lowest by the person she just met. “Ugh... Sorry to invade. I just had to get away from Esma and... y’know...” She nodded towards Summer. “Saw you. Rough day?”

“Try rough-two-weeks.” She muttered in response, before remembering that Brandi wasn’t exactly someone she’d consider opening up to... even though she sighed with pity. 

“I feel that. I just asked that one chick with the pink hair out earlier. Immediately rejected- can you believe that?” She flipped her fringe out of her eye and shook her head, a sad smile pressed on her lips. Summer anxiously looked over her shoulder.

“How do you get over it so easily?”

“Well,” Brandi shrugged. “I didn’t really know her anyway. But there’s been other times that were different... that fucking sucked,” She turned towards Summer, a knowing glint in her eye. “You’ll get over it eventually, don’t worry about it.” Summer wiped her eyes, turning around to fully face the other girl.

“How... how did you-”

“I mean, when you’ve been in that situation as much as I have it gets pretty damn easy to identify,” She used her thumb to carefully wipe another one of the cheerleader’s tears that newly ran down her face. “It will get easier to deal with, though. I swear.” Summer grinned through her tears... She was right. This wasn’t the end of the world. 

“Thanks...” Brandi nodded in acknowledgment.

“You know what? I’m your friend now. Not necessarily because I like you, but, y’know... Learned from experience that it’s best to stick together, right?” Summer nodded, before getting up. 

“Alright then, friend,” She joked. “It’s probably best if we head back to the dorms... curfew’s coming up.”

“Eh. I might stay out here a bit longer. You go ahead though.” When Summer hesitated a little, she waved towards the dorms, and the blonde followed her subtle order.

“See you later?” She asked, walking away.

Brandi just nodded again, left alone in the peaceful field to get used to her new location.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hehe bramndi,,.,..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YALL my gf and me came up w tim/bean and idk if its cursed or blessed pls leave your thoughts in the comments

Summer was the only one to not flinch at the girls frightening presence as she slammed the tray down on the table. The rest of the group, however, didn’t try to hide their skepticism as they looked her up and down.

“What’s up, losers?” Her ignorantly loud greeting echoed across the cafeteria as she slipped into the empty seat next to Summer. Her first impression obviously didn’t go down well with most of the group, but the cheerleader gave her a wide welcoming smile.

“Um...” Travis began, tired of the silence already. “You’re new here, right?”

“That’s a given, isn’t it?” Brandi smirked at him, picking up what appeared to be water, even though the smell hinted otherwise. “But yeah, I just transferred.”

“Oh, c-cool.”The small boy sitting opposite her was clearly uncomfortable, but figured it was ultimately best to get on her good side. “I’m, uh, Tim. Hi...” She nodded in acknowledgment.

“Brandi.” She glanced towards the others, half indicating for them to introduce themselves too.

“Alright. I’m Chaz.”

“That’s a stupid name.” 

Luke didn’t try to stifle his laughter whatsoever at the girl’s comment, and even though Chaz shot them a warning glare, Tim couldn’t help but bite his lip as an embarrassed grin crept across his face.

“What? No it’s not!”

“His last name’s even worse.” Summer muttered, smirking at the other girl.

“Eh, I like your name.” Travis shrugged, reaching to take his hand but stopped after Chaz gently nudged him in the shoulder, reminding him of the lack of privacy. Summer noticed Brandi’s eyes widen a little as an enlightened smile appeared.

“Oh,  gay .” She whispered to no one in particular. The blonde rolled her eyes as Chaz started to talk again.

“Anyway, my name is  not  stupid, and that’s Luke, Travis and Su-”

“Oh, I already know Summer,” Brandi declared, wrapping her arm around the cheerleader’s shoulders in a way that Summer wasn’t completely sure was friendly or flirtatious. “You didn’t think I sat here for you, did you?” She smirked at Chaz, who wasn’t used to being spoken to like this.

“I- You’re... Uh...”

“Come on, Brandi, you only just met him; give him a little bit more time before you kill him.” Travis grinned, clearly enjoying watching his boyfriend being the target of the girl’s jokes. Chaz, on the other hand, stood up and turned to leave. 

“Oh, wait no, come back!” Summer called after the boy. “She doesn’t mean it...”

“No, I do...” Brandi looked at Chaz. “But I’ll stop if you want.” She continued with a sigh. Embarrassed and bitter, the boy sat back down, resting his elbows on the table, glaring at Brandi from across the table who didn’t seem disheartened by his clear display of unfriendliness towards her.

“Oh, by the way, I need to copy someone’s english homework.”

 

“I don’t like her.”

The group from before had departed and a few of the members had regrouped with a few select others in the common room of the girl’s dorms.

“That’s only because she’s mean to you.” Summer said, hanging upside down next to him on the light red sofa.

“Well, yeah, and I see that as a good reason!” He snapped, slumping over with his head falling onto Travis’ shoulder. 

“Don’t worry Chaz, I’m sure she didn’t mean it.” Pinky tried to assure him, Beebee’s head in her lap as she flipped through a magazine.

“She was probably just trying to look cool... or something...” The pink-haired girl suggested, lowering her magazine to address the stuntman who remained silent. 

“Well, it didn’t work. I never wanna see her again.” 

On cue, the door cracked open and Brandi walked inside, the thud of her footsteps loud enough to alert everyone in the building of her arrival. Beebee scrambled to get away from the girl in blue and Chaz picked his head up again. As she saw the small group of people in the room, she froze, shooting Summer a small smile. Upon noticing the shorter boy’s resentful expression, however, she sighed and walked over to him. 

“Hey...” She didn’t get a response, but carried on anyway. “Look, I’m not gonna say I’m sorry for saying that stuff because it was funny-”

“Debatable.”

“But I’m sorry I made you upset, okay?” Chaz fell back onto Travis, reluctant to accept the half-assed apology he was met with.

“...Whatever.” 

Still, Brandi smiled and perched herself on the arm of the sofa, next to Summer who was still upside down.

“This where all the gays hang out then?”

“Most of us...” Pinky muttered, not immediately realising that she may have just outed everyone. “Wait, I mean-”

“No, don’t worry about it,” Brandi laughed at her panicked response and turned to look at the others in the room: her eyes landed on the piercing glare that the stuntman was giving her. “Oh, for God’s sake, I apologised, didn’t I? Stop being a bitch.” She muttered, rolling her eyes. Chaz clenched his fist in offended anger and turned away from her. Travis, noticing the situation’s likely escalation into something violent, wrapped his had around his fist and tried to change the subject.

“So, Brandi, I hope you don’t mind me asking this, but why are you transferring now?”

“Hm? What’s so weird about that?” 

“Well, it’s just exams are coming up really soon- I’m just confused why you’re here so late in the year...” Brandi sighed, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees.

“Eh, it was mostly about bullying related shit.”

“Oh no,” Beebee gasped, tearful sympathy in her eyes. “What happened?”

“Ugh, this group of kids just got together and started picking on me ‘cuz, I mean, I feel like you should already know by now.”

“So you moved schools to get away from it?” Summer asked, swiftly flipping herself and sitting properly.

“No! I got kicked out for beating the shit out of them.” Brandi smiled with pride as she looked across the room at the half-supportive, half-terrified faces.

“Yes!” The redhead turned back around and yelled out in excitement before his eyes widened and he turned back around to face the blonde boy. “I-I mean, I still don’t like you.” 

Brandi actually smirked at his reaction instead of getting annoyed and continued to speak. 

“Anyway... yeah, it is a bit of an awkward time: I just hope I’m gonna be able to learn enough to pass in a few days.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Summer grinned at her with support; it wasn’t exactly that she meant what she said, but the cheerleader did want to be optimistic. The girl in purple smiled at her gratefully, but her face took a sudden shift into something more solemn.

“Yeah... gotta admit though, I’m kinda bummed about having moved the day before my friends and I were gonna go out together,” She flicked her fringe out of her face. “We’d been planning on doing something like that before our exams just to be stupid and shit, but...” She sighed. Summer looked at her, a sympathetic expression on her face. It wasn’t like she deserved to miss out, even if she was a little... troublesome. The blonde girl placed a hand on Brandi’s shoulder, trying to demonstrate some form of pity.

“Why don’t we just do something then?” Travis piped up, drawing everyone’s attention. “It’ll make us all less stressed, right? Besides, I wanna make you feel welcome.” He smiled at Brandi, who looked considerate for a brief moment. 

“Huh... I guess that sounds nice...” It was obvious she felt as though it wouldn’t compare to what she’d ideally wanted, but she greatly appreciated the gesture. “Why not.”

Travis looked ecstatic. 

“Awesome! It’ll be great!” He smiled, before pulling his phone out of his pocket and glancing at the screen. “Hm, we should probably get back to our own dorms... it’s almost nine...” He stood up, pulling Chaz up with him and made his way towards the door. “I’ll text you guys later, bye!” 

The stuntman didn’t say anything, but gave them a barely noticeable wave as he followed the taller boy, leaving the four girls alone in the common room. Beebee rested her head back on her girlfriend’s lap.

“So if we’re having a party... do you wanna be my date?” She giggled, gently brushing the blue girl’s cheek with her hand.

“Hm... I’m not sure... I’ve already been asked so many times.” Pinky joked, beginning to run her hand through Beebee’s fluffy pink hair. 

As the pair continued in their act of affection, Summer slouched over, watching them out of the corner of her stinging eyes.

“What’s up?”

“...Same thing as yesterday...” Summer mumbled, not having forgotten their brief conversation. “I just...” Summer clutched her knees up to her chest. “Miss her...” Brandi tilted her head, second hand sadness overtaking her.

“Don’t worry, Summer.” 

“I know... everyone keeps telling me that though and I just can’t see it getting any better...” She said, her voice so soft it almost came out as a whisper. Brandi looked down, then back at the cheerleader with a small smile.

“Well... I guess we can try and help you forget...”

“I don’t wanna forget about Liberty, I love her!”

“Look, that mindset isn’t gonna help. I’m just saying...” Even though it conflicted the topic of the conversation, Brandi’s face lit up into a playful smirk. “Fuck it, if we’re gonna be lonely, let’s just be lonely together. Go to the dumb party with me.”

Summer couldn’t lie: she was a little shocked at this request coming out of the blue... but sure, Brandi was trying to make her feel better. Letting out a tiny giggle, she decided to just respond to the girl’s demand.

“Alright.”

 

***

 

The school grounds were more or less empty by now, even though the light of the summer afternoon was far from faded, and it was because of this that the pair felt somewhat safe to walk back to the dorms hand in hand. Having to deal with the silence of the evening admittedly made Chaz feel a little awkward, so he took it into his own responsibility to fill the empty noiseless atmosphere.

“So, we’re actually throwing a party for Brandi?”

“Yeah! I dunno, I thought It’d be nice.”

“Too nice.” 

“Oh, come on,” Travis gripped the other boy’s hand tighter, pulling him in closer as they walked. “She’s not that bad: you can’t hold a grudge against her just ‘cause she made fun of you.”

“Yes I can.”

“Well, judging by that logic...” Travis made a big deal of ripping his hand away from Chaz’s, immediately feeling the cold of the air replace it.

“W-wait, no, come back, I’m sorry,” Chaz whined, moving towards him again, reconnecting their hands before he sighed. “Fine... I guess she is kinda okay... Maybe. Whatever. I don’t care.” Travis laughed at his childish reaction.

“I love you, you little asshole.”

“Pfft, love ya too, I guess.” Chaz laughed, leaning up to reach Travis’s face and nuzzling into his neck. Travis stumbled clumsily over his own feet at this sudden gesture, laughing at his boyfriend fondly as he wrapped his arms around his shoulders. Shortly after he pulled away, they both turned to move back towards the dorms: only to see a more than familiar person with blue hair wearing a hat that resembled a dog, his green eyes sparkling with shock at what he had witnessed. Chaz immediately pushed the taller boy away.

“Can we just agree that whenever we think about PDA, we wait until we’re in our dorm?” Travis mumbled, staring at the boy.

 

“Um... Chaz? Travis?”

“Hey Tim.” Chaz strained a smile, frozen in place, but Travis started to walk towards the boy.

“Yeah, uh, we were just going back to the dorms.” He said, hoping with all his heart that Tim hadn’t seen what had actually been happening.

“Are you...” Tim pressed his index fingers together and lowered his voice, glancing back and forth at the boys. “Are you dating?” Chaz and Travis glanced at each other, the sudden red tints on their faces instantly giving Tim the answer he needed. “Oh my God... why didn’t you tell me?” He wailed, half excited, half betrayed, his eyes glittering at the secret he’d (sort of) been given access to.

“Because... well... we... uh...” Chaz began, struggling to get the words out as the tint in his face darkened. Travis sighed... he figured it was probably best to not dodge any questions.

“Look, Tim, don’t take this the wrong was but... we just weren’t sure if we could trust you.”

“But I’m one of your best friends! Does Luke even know?” Travis swore he could see tears forming in the corners of his eyes: obviously this would hit him hard, Chaz did tell him pretty much everything.

“N-no... sorry, Tim.” The boy in the dog hat looked at his feet, ashamed at the thought of not being trustworthy.

“Hey man, if it makes you feel any better, we’d have told you eventually... besides, it’s only been, like... two, three weeks?” Chaz walked up to the other boy and leant against Travis’ arm. Tim sniffed, still a little upset, but shrugged.

“Okay... but you do think you can trust me right?”

“Uh...”

“Look, I won’t even tell Luke if you want!” He assured them, standing up straight and beginning to walk. “I don’t wanna invade your privacy anymore, I swear.”

“Dude,” Chaz put his hand on Tim’s shoulder, not exactly softly, but not rough enough to hurt him. “Calm. Down. I mean, thanks I guess, but you didn’t do anything wrong, okay? It just a... y’know... personal thing.”

“Oh...”

“Yeah, you saw what happened with Summer.” Travis muttered, a sympathetic look on her face.

“O-OH! THAT’S why you were so worried about her, wasn’t it, Chaz?” He looked as if he’d made a great discovery. “Aw, I should have guessed!”

“N-no... you shouldn’t have... if anything I’m glad you didn’t.” Chaz mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets. 

 

The trio walked in silence for a while, but as the dorms came into view, Tim began to speak softly once again.

“So... we can tell each other anything now, yeah?” He asked, looking up at the boys, both of which glanced at each other for a second. Although he didn’t receive an answer, the blue-haired boy kept talking. “...Ok, be honest, does it make me kinda gay if I think Bean’s cute?”

Chaz whipped his head around, raising one eyebrow with a smirk.

“A little bit, yeah.”

“Aw, heck...” Tim rubbed one arm with his opposite hand.

“It’s not a bad thing.” Travis said, shrugging, but Tim still sighed.

“I know.” Travis was a little downhearted at the boy’s negativity, and searched his mind for anything that could cheer him up. The idea struck him as the group entered the boy’s common room.

“Hey, we’re having a party soon... wanna come?” He asked. Tim’s eyes immediately lit up.

“Oh, sure! Sounds fun!” A wide grin stretched across his face and he clenched his fists with excitement.

“Cool, we’ll text you the details.” Travis informed him. Tim nodded and turned, running up the stairs to both boy’s surprise.

 

“Man, I kinda wanted to talk about the other thing...”

“Well, it looked like it was making him uncomfortable.”

“I guess...” Chaz turned to face the taller boy. “So this party is just gonna be some kinda “come if you’re gay thing”, huh?”

Travis went quiet for a moment.

“Now that you mention it... I guess so.”

Chaz smirked, starting to walk up the stairs. “I mean, that’s the best kind, right?” He leant over the banister, gazing down at the blonde. “You look tired by the way.”

“I’m not.” He replied as he stifled a yawn and followed the other boy up the stairs.

“Please don’t tell me you’re gonna stay up all night planning this dumb party.”

“Of course I am.”

Chaz sighed as they reached their dorm room, making sure they were completely hidden behind the door before he leant up and kissed him on the cheek.

“You’re way too nice for your own good, man.”

“I love you too.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bitches be putting off updating for a month bc they wanna write oneshots w their gf its me i’m bitches

Even though the event had been planned entirely last minute, the self proclaimed “leaders” of it (specifically Summer, Beebee and Travis) had been determined to make it at least adequate for their new acquaintance, even though she repeatedly kept claiming it didn’t matter all too much. Although these three had been working themselves to their limit to make it happen over the past three days, the others involved in the party were remarkably less excited.

  
“Summer, bro, I love you, but please calm down.” Brandi flicked her fringe out of her eyes again.

  
“But I wanna-”

  
“I know, but seriously, every time I see you it’s either class, homework, party or cheer practice- like, do you even sleep?”  
Unfortunately, the blonde’s brain was unable to process the question before Brandi got the answer she was fearing. “Right.”

  
She pushed her over onto the sofa in the common room and threw a blanket that was resting on the arm of a chair on top of her before the cheerleader was given the chance to react.

  
“Hey!”

  
“If you don’t go to sleep immediately I will kill you.”

  
Summer grumbled miserably, knowing that Brandi wouldn’t let her protest... still, this didn’t stop her from trying.

  
“But I’ve got... uh... I gotta get confetti.”

  
“No one gives a shit- and it’s in the park. That’s gonna count as littering,” Brandi told her, lightly tossing a pillow onto her head. Summer wanted to point out the girl’s hypocrisy: she’d been spotted tossing empty soda cans into the gutter more times than Summer had cried over her ex roommate in the past week, but the cheerleader decided to keep her mouth shut. “And I told you, I don’t care. It’s your little friends who are getting so worked up about it.” She signalled to the other two “leaders”, who also looked as though excitement had corrupted their sleep schedule.

  
“Hey, the theme of a party is a crucial asset!” Beebee exclaimed.

  
“Is it really?” Brandi scoffed.

  
“I’m sure it’s gonna look great, babe...” Pinky muttered, concerned and running a hand down Beebee’s face, who smiled gratefully, but the tension in her shoulders didn’t seem to disappear.

  
Chaz just looked up at Travis as he typed on his phone, his eyebrows furrowed and his arms folded at the blonde’s behaviour.  
“Do you wanna go back to our dorm or something?”

  
“Nah, I have to order these limited edition balloons.” Travis replied, an oblivious smile lighting up his face.

  
The stuntman sighed, slumping over and glancing towards no one in particular for a moment, then stood up and turned to the door.

  
“Whatever. Call me when you wanna acknowledge my existence, bitch,” He didn’t look as if he wanted to say goodbye to anyone in the room, but figured it was probably best to give them a reason behind his escape. “I have to help Tim with something. Bye.”  
This got Travis’ attention. He followed in the boy’s footsteps as they left the dorms, giving the girls an apologetic goodbye before shutting the door behind him.

***

“Dude, you can’t expect this to work if you give him that kind of advice.”

  
“Like you’d have any better idea... besides, who’s the not-single one here?”

  
Travis couldn’t even uncover the words to react to his own boyfriend’s snide yet idiotic remark, and just shook his head, looking out for any sign of the blue-haired boy. It’d been a sudden decision of his, but Tim had decided that if he liked someone, it would be best to let them know, and resorted to asking the only two people he knew were in a gay relationship for advice. To most people, however, this would have been considered a bad move, on account of them being utter idiots.

  
“Oh, he’s over there...” Travis gently nudged Chaz in the shoulder, pointing to where he was standing, waving at them. As they walked closer to the boy, they could make out the wide smile on his face... yet it was clearly more strained than usual.

  
“Hey... I wasn’t sure if you were gonna come...”

  
“Don’t be stupid, we’d love to help you,” Chaz grinned, lightly punching the boy on the shoulder. “What’s your plan then?”

  
The blue-haired boy took a shaky inhale, as if he was going to confess at that very moment.  
“I wanted to just start like... y’know... you look nice today, and did you do well on that test... and then I was just gonna go for it.” Tim told them, looking at the ground as a faint blush spread across his face.  
Travis smiled at the boy; in all fairness, he couldn’t see any flaw in the boy’s scenario- it was probably best to just ask for a straight answer. Chaz, on the other hand, was less than ecstatic.

  
“Are you serious?” He exclaimed in disbelief. “N-no, absolutely not, look,” He turned to Travis, taking his hands to direct him. “I’ll show you how to ask someone out.”

  
“You didn’t ask me out though, you told me you loved me when you were having a breakdown.”

  
“Okay, you be quiet now, Travis,” The redhead turned back to Tim, making sure he was watching. “I’m gonna be you, Travis is Bean, this is how it’s gonna go...” He turned back to the blonde and took a deep breath, then put his hand on the taller boy’s arm. “You. Are the finest piece of ass I’ve ever seen.”

  
“Chaz!”

  
“What, you don’t want him to think you’re a pussy, do you?”

  
“Maybe...” Travis held his arm out in front of his boyfriend. “You should just trust your instincts, Tim. You’re the one who knows him the best, right?”

  
“Yeah... yeah, I guess you’re right!” He said with a grin. “No offence, Chaz... I’m just not sure your approach is the best for me.”

The redhead simply shrugged.  
“Your loss.”

  
They were interrupted by the sight of a familiar boy with blonde curls arriving at the front of the bike shed and leaning against the wall. The moment Tim saw him, he smiled nervously, feeling the strength of his heartbeat in his veins as he flushed a bright shade of pink.

  
“Oh- okay... okay... um...”

  
Chaz gave him a shove, encouraging him to run over to the boy, and even though they were quite far away, the pair could see his eyes light up when he saw Tim approaching.  
They watched the boys talk for a short while, curious as to see how it was going, before they noticed Bean place a hand on Tim’s shoulder and walk off.

  
“So...” Travis began once the blue-haired boy was back in earshot. “How did it go?”  
Tim was quiet for a moment, before looking up at them and smiling.

  
“I... uh... think I have a boyfriend now.”

***

As expected by everyone, it was Travis, Beebee and Summer who arrived at the location ages before anyone else, clearly exhilarated at the idea of their hard work finally being put together. Unfortunately, their positivity did seem to be interrupted by doubt.

  
“Maybe we did waste effort on this.” Summer sat on the edge of a park bench, watching Travis plug in his phone to a speaker system.

  
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Beebee smiled at her as she adjusted the angle of a streamer wrapped around a light. “It doesn’t matter what significance there is, we tried our hardest to make Brandi feel welcome, and she will.”

  
“But... she might-“

  
“Summer,” Travis began. “Don’t worry about Brandi, okay? You’ve barely known her for a week.”

  
“B-but...” Summer slouched over, her chin resting on her palms. “She... I kinda care about her, you know?” Both of her classmates went quiet for just a moment, before Beebee flushed with excitement and enthusiastically pointed at Summer.

  
“Oh, you like her!” Summer’s cheeks turned red and she jumped back.

  
“W-WHAT, NO!” She put one hand up to her face, feeling how warm her skin had become at the girl’s comment. “I’m just... trying to be nice.”

  
“If you say so.” Travis replied, rolling his eyes and turning back to the speakers, leaving Beebee to continue decorating and Summer to sit in thought for a while.

  
She had to admit, having Brandi around did start to cheer her up- she’d barely even thought about Liberty since... not to mention she was funny and strong and surprisingly considerate and-

  
“Huh.”

  
Summer was awoken from her spiral of thought by an all-too familiar voice at this point.

  
“I though you’d be more involved.”

  
“Y-yeah, I’m just taking a break... Sorry.” Summer began, trying to hide her nervousness from the other girl, who scoffed in response.

  
“I told you, Summer, I don’t care about all this. Like, you can do it if you want, but all I really wanna do is...”  
Summer felt herself subconsciously hoping that Brandi would finish with “spend time with you”.  
“...get high.”

  
“Oh.”

  
Brandi noticed the look on the cheerleader’s face, and immediately started laughing, placing a hand on her forearm.

  
“Summer, I’m joking,” She smiled up at her, seeing a small grin creep across her face as well. “Of course I’m just happy to be hanging out with you- you’re like one of the coolest people I know.”

  
Summer, not exactly knowing why she responded in the way she did, yelled out the first thing her flustered mind could create:  
“Let’s go together.”

  
“What?”

  
“To this party thing. Let’s go together.”

  
“We already agreed on that.” Brandi replied, a confused smile creeping onto her face.

  
“No- I mean like... as a date?”

  
“Huh...” Brandi cocked her head as averted her eyes in consideration. “I mean, I can’t say I hate the idea...” Summer’s eyes glittered with hope. “Eh, why not. I can take you to this weird forest place I like afterwards. It looks cool at night.”

  
“R-really?” Summer spluttered through her flustered grin. It was difficult to imagine that Brandi would consider her date-worthy, but still, it was happening.

“Okay... okay... uh, okay, we were gonna make it so the party starts at seven...”

  
“Sounds good,” Brandi lightly punched her on the shoulder in an attempt of affection and stood up, nodding to Summer as she left. “See ya.”

  
The cheerleader could only watch her walk off, trapped in the silence of her own ecstasy- at least, until Brandi was finally out of earshot and she felt a remarkable force fall onto her from behind.

 

“I KNEW IT!” Beebee squealed, her arms wrapped around the girl’s neck far too tightly. “God, Summer, you are sooo bad at lying.”

  
“N-no, I swear... I just think she’s cool.” Summer spluttered, trying to prise her hands away.  
She could hear Travis’ sigh from what must have been twenty metres away.

  
“Cool enough to marry?” Beebee giggles, shaking the flustered girl frantically, as if it was some kind of friendly-yet-aggressive interrogation.

  
“Beebee, get off!” She exclaimed, her facing only turning a darker shade of red. “Look, I’m not... entirely sure I want to... y’know... date date her... but I...” She sighed, finally leaning into her friend’s “embrace”. “I kinda wanna take my mind off... uh...” She felt Beebee loosen her grip.

  
“Aw, come on Summer, it’ll be ok,” She wasn’t met with any kind of reply, so carried on with her speech. “And... well, I don’t really know how she’s gonna feel finding out she’s a distraction, but hey...” She playfully leant in. “That’s not to say you won’t ever like her.”  
Summer let out a small laugh, gently pushing Beebee’s grinning face away from her.

  
“Whatever... Let’s just get back to the party, okay?”

***

The sky was beginning to darken as the blonde finally scrolled through his phone, trying to look for the right song to play first- the party hadn’t really started yet, and the location really only contained him and one other person, but he figured it was best to have some background noise before the small group began to show up. As he indecisively selected something, his accomplice snuck up behind him and draped his arms around his neck.

  
“Finally, I thought you’d never pick one...” He grinned, sliding from behind him to onto his lap, resting his feet on the bench they were sitting on.

  
“Well, I made this playlist specifically for everyone who’s coming, so I don’t wanna play all the best ones before they arrive...” Travis looked down at his phone again, cocking his head as he considered changing the track again.

  
“Oh, come on- it’s basically just three hours of the same bands.”

  
“I mean... I guess...” The blonde grinned, switching off his phone and turning his focus to the boy in his lap.

  
“Hey, speakin’ of which, did you invite anyone else?” He asked, pushing his sunglasses up on his forehead and looking off towards the entrance of the park. “I didn’t, because, y’know, everyone sucks, but there’s only like, eight of us- it’s a bit pathetic...”

  
“Well...” Travis averted his eyes before answering. “I did ask a couple of people like Candy, Zack and Saph... That Yuki girl heard about it and said she might show up... I think Buddy might come but just ‘cuz I told him there’d be snacks...” A shameful realisation flashed across his eyes. “Oh... and uh, I asked Lib if she wanted to come too.”

  
“You what?”

  
“I-it just seemed like the nice thing to do?”

  
“Did you tell Summer?”

  
“No, I... I didn’t wanna stress her out... Besides, she might not even show up!”

  
“But if she does-”

  
“Hey, guys!”

  
The pair’s little row was thankfully cut off before it reached its peak, and they both whipped their heads around to see who had called out to them. They hadn’t exactly expected to see Brandi show up first, but since Summer was clinging to her arm, it did make a little more sense.

  
“Hey, I saw a the others all walking this way too... They’ll probably be here in a sec,” Brandi wrapped a strand of her pigtail around her finger as she walked towards the setting, hey eyes darting around the strings of glittering lights and colours draped around the trees. “Huh... I gotta admit, this is was nicer than what I would’ve been doing...” She pulled the blonde closer to her, smirking at her honoured blush. “Thanks.”

  
“N-no problem.” Summer turned away, letting herself fall more into the taller girl’s embrace before she sat down, the cheerleader stumbling into her lap.

  
“Hey, Summer, so there’s something Travis thought he wouldn’t tell yo-” Chaz only stopped at the contact of the other boy gently flicking the back of his ear.

  
“Wh-what?”

  
Neither of them were able to reply before a much louder greeting met their ears.

  
“HI!!! WE’RE HERE NOW, YOU DIDN’T START WITHOUT US, DID YOU?” Beebee was squealing, practically running towards them and dragging Pinky behind her, the rest of the guests following at a more casual speed, chatting to one another and clasping a few extra items in their arms. One girl with wild black hair seemed to be talking to nobody, but it wasn’t really the most unusual thing she’d ever done.  
Instantly forgetting about Chaz’s attempted warning, Summer got up to talk to everybody, a wide smile on her face.

 

This didn’t stop Chaz from transferring the secret to Brandi.

  
“This dipshit invited Liberty Lee.” He muttered, nodding towards the taller boy.  
It took Brandi a while to understand, but her eye widened in surprise as she remembered where she’d heard that name before.

  
“Snake girl?”

  
“Mhm.”

  
“Dude, what the hell?”

  
Travis glared at Chaz, feeling somewhat ganged up on.

  
“She’s my friend! She’s Summer’s friend! You don’t know: maybe they’ll finally talk it out... if she even shows up...” He looked over the pair, trying to find the brunette in the crowd, yet no sign of her crossed his eye. “See, she’s probably not even gonna arrive.”

  
Chaz scoffed, folding his arms, as Brandi opened her mouth to speak again- but she was distracted by Summer’s enthusiasm yet again.

  
“Brandi, BrandiBrandiBrandi- You said you loved this song, right?” She grinned up at the girl, her eyes glittering. “Do you wanna, like, dance or something?”

  
Brandi shot Travis another unimpressed glance before smiling down at the cheerleader and taking her hand, allowing herself to be dragged into the crowd and jokingly dance with the blonde to an upbeat song.

 

Thankfully, Brandi was definitely enjoying herself- Summer couldn’t recall a moment in the short time they’d known each other that she’d seen her smile this much. She’d even stated, to the cheerleader’s surprise, that it was nice to have everyone there together: she hadn’t been planning to meet a great deal of people, but they all seemed bearable enough.  
It was if time flew by to the beat of the music, with an hour and a half passing like it was nothing. Summer glanced away from her ‘date’ for a second as _Death of a Bachelor_ began playing, finally noticing Travis look up from his phone as Chaz fell onto his lap, laughing playfully as he looked up at the blonde boy. The girl was glad to see they’d disregarded their apparent fight at the start of the night now- even if she didn’t know what it actually was...  
Still, it was pretty funny to watch Travis taking a hold of his boyfriend’s wrist and making them ‘dance’ together.  
She began to notice that the groups around them were beginning to collapse, a few people taking the opportunity to sit down for a moment while the others clumsily tried to dance with a partner. Her face flushed as she looked up at Brandi who, seemingly, was thinking the same thing as she was. The taller girl bit her lip and grinned, holding out her hand. Summer giggled as she took it, allowing Brandi to almost pick her up and spin her, miles out of time with the song.  
After two minutes of tripping over each other and non-stop laughing, they finally managed to maintain their balance and look into the others eyes, gently swaying to the last selection of the song’s lines. Summer could barely feel herself inching up to get closer to the girl... it almost felt natural. Brandi, on the other hand, was completely aware of what was happening, and smiled as she leant in, the two pausing for a moment before closing the gap between them, the warm feeling of the other girl’s lips filling them with ecstasy.  
Although it only lasted a few seconds, the pair stayed close to each other, their faces barely touching, before Summer giggled, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

  
“U...Um...” She spluttered through her nervous laughter, completely focused on the moment she was living in. “I... I’m...”

  
Brandi just smiled at her, spinning the shorter girl around again, even though the song had ended. Summer held onto the girl, hoping with anything that this moment would last forever- until a small figure who was timidly standing there fiddling with one of her braids caught her eye, and she planted her feet into ground, returning back to reality in that one split second.

 

“Uh... hi, Summer...”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YALL I AM SO SORRY I STRAIGHT UP FUCKING D I E D 
> 
> anyway this is Messy!!! but like hope u like it i tried my best it’s 12:30 am

“Liberty!”

 

 

The brunette looked down at her feet, tugging at the brim of her hat as she tried to avoid eye contact with ether of the girls in front of her.

“Um... I wasn’t gonna come...” She paused, biting her lip as she tried to devise anything to say. “But... I don’t know...”

 

“N-no...” The blonde pulled away from Brandi, allowing her arms to fall, one hand loosely wrapped around the other. “I’m glad you did.”

 

Even though the beat of the music allowed the other groups to keep moving, the silence and stillness that fell between the trio of girls was thick and tense, making them all feel heavy and somewhat out of place.

 

“I’m... sorry for interrupting anything; I think I should-” The brunette looked towards the exit, only for Summer to protest once again.

 

“No, Liberty, please stay... I-I...” Her eyes dashed towards Brandi for half a second, but she turned her gaze back towards her ex-roommate and softly smiled, lowering her voice by the tiniest fraction. “I’ve really missed you...”

 

“Really?”

 

The awkwardness of the silence for the two girl was replaced with just a second to look at each other with sincerity in their eyes, somehow conveying that they both wanted this to stop once and for all- but they so clearly were reluctant to make the first move. As the pair seemed to freeze up, Brandi twirled a strand of her hair around her finger, her eye darting to the left as she considered what to do. She was somewhat certain that Summer did mean a lot to her- more than anyone else... but still, this was what she needed right now, so all she could do was contemplate whether to push them along or just let them get along with it; she could deduct though, her being there wasn’t exactly going to encourage their reunion. 

She shot a nod and a tiny supportive grin in the direction of the blonde, before quietly slipping away and joining in with the bustle of the party. The girls, on the other hand, took the girl’s departure as a clear invitation to quietly shuffle into the shadows of the forest surrounding the heart of the event. 

 

 

The volume of the music seemed to get so much lower as the pair walked side by side into the forest, neither looking anywhere other than the ground in silence. Summer could only bear to watch the ground pass along as she moved forward, analysing the twigs and leaves that paved the forest floor, gently illuminated by the warm light of streetlamps that had been placed in a large cleared area that had been renovated by the city. 

The blonde stared up at the sight of the warm glow against the lush night sky, and almost commented- until she noticed the other girl’s subtle inhale.

 

 

“I-I’ve never been here at night before...” The brunette moved her hands up to her head, brushing her braids forward so that they were resting on top of her shoulders. “It’s nice.” 

 

Summer could so clearly tell how nervous the girl was: her speech came out as nothing more than a whisper, yet it was strained, as if she wanted to be clearer, yet that was all she could manage. The blonde considered taking her hand- maybe some form, any form, of comfort might have been of assistance in that situation, but their distance seemed to act as a wall. 

But Summer was sick of being separated.

She sighed, turning to Liberty and looking at her sympathetic expression with the single intent of resolution, and with only half a second of hesitation, took a soft hold of the girl’s hand.

 

“Why wouldn’t you... where did you go?”

 

“What do you mean?” Liberty replied, her voice still strained with guilt.

 

“I-I mean, you know what I’m talking about... I’d rather just get to the point,” She nervously scratched the back of her head, trying to generate the right words to use. “I don’t wanna make you feel... uh... bad, or anything, but you know you could have just said you didn’t like me that way.”

 

“Wait, Summer-”

 

“It’s just, I wouldn’t have taken it the wrong way or anything- I completely get it, and I know I shouldn’t have dumped anything on you like that,” Her speech grew faster and she began to trip over her words in the midst of her flustered explanation. “I just- I just want us to still be friends.” 

 

The shorter girl looked up at her with gratitude in her eyes, but it still appeared to be too much for her to give a smile in response.

 

“You do?” The blonde nodded in response, only receiving a small sigh from the other girl. “Oh, I’m glad...” 

 

Summer could feel her optimism crumbling away with every word, but still forced herself to smile a little, waiting for the other girl’s response. There was none. She was beginning to feel like maybe Liberty had come to the party with the hope of shutting her out for good, yet as she felt her eyes beginning to prick, the brunette took a breath, looking back up at the sky.

 

“I really, really regret doing that,” She muttered, shame and honestly hidden evenly through her tone. “I-I immediately felt stupid, and I... I guess, maybe one of the reasons I didn’t talk to you sooner was because I thought you’d be... uh...” She scratched her arm, eyes darting down- Summer could tell this wasn’t scripted in any way; it was genuine. She continued with a slight nerve-shaken laugh. “...Thinking the same thing I was.”

 

“N-no way! I could never think anything bad about you, Lib.”

 

“I bet you have...”

 

“No way- seriously, from the moment... well... since it happened, all I’m thinking about is how fun you are-”  _How pretty your smile is_ _._ “How well you look after your snakes-”  _How_ _much you’d go out of your way to make me feel happy._ “Just... you’re an amazing person, Liberty. Nothing that gets in the way is gonna change that.”  _Sweet Jesus I’m so gay._

 

The brunette struggled to stifle her flustered yet grateful laughter at the girl’s comments, and the taller girl glanced towards her again, definitely noticing the return of a signature glitter in her eye. She inched slightly towards Summer, the tiniest gap between their two hands as they sat down on a nearby picnic bench, still gazing up at the clear, dark sky, the atmosphere nearly as light as they were used to.

 

“I... Um... Hope you aren’t mad at me...” Liberty said, a woeful smile on her face as she pulled a strand of hair from underneath her hat and twisted it around her finger. “I know I could have just... Y’know... met up with everyone but I... I guess I just...”

 

“Didn’t?”

 

“Well, yeah but... I was scared, Summer.”

 

“I know. It’s okay.”

 

“No, but-” Liberty began to trip over her words, striking the cheerleader’s curiosity: anything making her worry all of a sudden must be a pretty heavy topic to cover. “When you- at school- after I, uh- just, you know what I mean, um...” Summer nodded, slouching over and perching her elbows on her knees. “It just... kinda felt like everything was happening so fast, and it was overwhelming and just... I guess I didn’t know what to say. Uh, when I told you I thought I...” She lowered her voice. “...Liked girls... I thought that was just all you wanted to say.”

 

“Oh... yeah, again, I’m sorry about dumping it all on you.” Summer replied, scratching the back of her head with a small smile.

 

“Mm, it’s ok, I just wish I’d had time to like... prepare what I was gonna say?” The other girl only tilted her head in curiosity and interest, waiting for Liberty to elaborate. “I think... I guess I’d been thinking a little about it if it ever came out that the rumours were true...” Summer’s grin faded a little- somehow, she’d almost forgotten about the origin of this all. “But then I guess I got wrapped up with other things and you liking me kinda became less... realistic?” She paused, shaking her head with a sigh. “I don’t know... I just really didn’t expect it.”

 

“Uh...huh?” Summer hummed, not entirely certain of the direction the conversation was heading. 

 

“Yeah. I think, if I was given the chance to relive that day, I’d... probably just say something...” She joked. “Like asking you to study together. At least.” The blonde’s ears pricked up, and she began to consider if she was interpreting the girl’s statement right.

 

 

“W-wait so...”

 

“I... uh... I’ve actually liked you for a while, Summer. I’m gonna be honest, I got pretty happy about the rumours- Ah, I mean, not because they were good but, like...” Summer held her hand up, eyes wide, before the brunette could continue rambling.

 

“N-no... I think... No, I get it...”

 

“Yeah, well... I’d been hoping that... something would happen between us... even if I didn’t show it,” She pulled another strand out of her hat with a deep sigh. “I just wish I wasn’t... I mean... I really missed out.” Liberty began to laugh, shakily, her hands sliding up her face as she slouched over, covering her eyes in a remorseful manner, even though she was clearly trying to be positive.

 

“Lib, you should have just...” Summer reached over, gently placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder as she rubbed her eyes. 

 

“I know... but I didn’t- and that’s just my fault,” She sat up again, the smile on her face strained, but the glitter of second-hand pride still stuck in her eyes. “At least I know you’re happy; that’s good enough for me, to be honest.”

 

“Wh- wait,what do you mean?” Liberty bit her lip, a tiny hint of red spreading across her cheeks as she nervously began, trying to dance around any way she could appear invasive.

 

“I know about you and that, uh, pirate girl? She seems... nice?”

 

“No she doesn’t.”

 

“Ah. I guess. But, is she?”

 

Summer paused for a moment: a sudden wave of everything Brandi had done for her flashed across her mind- even though she barely knew her, and obviously didn’t come off as the soft type, she really had made everything a lot easier in the short time they’d spent together... but still, it was actually becoming more and more difficult to envision her as anything beyond a friend anymore... especially with the view of Liberty smiling up at her in the soft glow of the street lamps; That didn’t make her a bad person, did it? Even though, yes, they might have kissed  once , and maybe Summer had had some mixed feelings... nothing was owed to the other, was it? Quickly becoming aware of Liberty’s concern fading into her face, the taller girl shook her head, placing one hand over the other girl’s.

 

“Yeah, she is... but she isn’t you...” In this moment, she really did feel like nothing had even changed. Maybe she did just need something different to think about.

 

“And you like her?”

 

“I...” The blonde looked around, as if Brandi (or anyone, for that matter) may have followed them into the clearing, listening on their conversation. Even though the coast seemed clear, Summer lowered her voice. “I don’t think so... I guess I just wanted to try it, but I still think we’d be better off as friends.” Her hand gently squeezed Liberty’s own, generating a tiny smile from the brunette as she looked down at where the contact was taking place. 

 

“Oh... okay, that makes sense...” Liberty looked back up at Summer with shining brown eyes. “Is there anything else you wanted to clear up... maybe?” She titled her head as Summer replied.

 

“I-I think that’s... more or less covered it. Are you okay?”

 

“Never better.” Liberty grinned, and both girls pulled each other in and wrapped their arms around each other, something they’d both gladly admit they missed remarkably. It wasn’t unlikely that they would have stayed like that all night, if it wasn’t for the sudden excited uproar in the distance as Candy had seemed to overpowered Travis’ playlist. Both girls looked back towards the other as they pulled away, smiling.

 

“So...” Summer began. “Uh... I dunno if you wanted to maybe... start from where we left off or... maybe just forget I ever confessed: i-it’s up to you.” Summer stumbled over her words as the pair walked back, hand in hand, weights having been raised from their shoulders. Liberty smiled at her, then took a step closer to her, until she was practically in her arms.

 

“Does it really matter? It’s the same outcome now.”

 

“I guess so...”

 

Their conversation was almost lost to the increasing volume of the music as they reproached the dance area, the familiar cheers of each individual ringing out into the night sky; yet before joining the party, there was still time to voice a final concern.

 

 

“Summer, Brandi won’t mind, will she?”

 

“Uhh... no, I think she likes that ninja girl anyway.”


	17. Chapter 17 (NSFW!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KINDA NSFW BABEEYY
> 
> FUCK OK i’m sorry for Severly Dying and then coming back Horny On Main but that’s just how it do be????????????
> 
> ANYWAY UM ITS NOT THAT BAD I THINK ITS MOSTLY JUST HINTED BUT ITS SKIPPABLE YALL DONT GOTTA READ IT this is mostly for my gf who i love and cherish

It wasn’t too long until the partygoers decided to pack up and head back to the campus, the crowd breaking apart as they made their way back to separate dorms. Most of them were tired enough to let themselves rest, but one person stayed up a little longer, scribbling ideas into his sketchbook as he tapped his feet impatiently against the chair legs, almost waiting for ideas to appear with no motive.

The gentle tapping was enough to go noticed by another boy, who sat up in his bed and looked towards the other boy, his phone grasped loosely in his hand.

 

“It’s 1:45, dude.”

 

The boy looked up from the desk he was sitting at and turned to address his roommate.

 

“Ok, and?”

 

“I wanna be up early tomorrow. And I sure would prefer to not be sleep deprived.”

 

“Well that’s your problem, Travis.” Chaz replied bitterly, but turned down the brightness of the desk lamp. The pen clicking, however, failed to cease.

 

Travis sighed, and Chaz heard the rustling of the bedsheets behind him, then shortly after felt the warm touch of his boyfriend’s hands on his shoulders. He noticed how the other boy’s focus turned to the scribbled notes in his notebook- before he swiftly slammed it shut.

 

“Don’t look at that. They’re not done.”

 

“They’re stunt ideas, right?”

 

“...Yeah...” Chaz traced the edges of the book with his finger. “I just... don’t have any, thats the problem: ideas, I mean. Everything’s already been done,” He folded his arms on the desk and let out a short sigh. “So not extreme.”

 

“Aw, cmon man, you can come up with something different. You’ve always been able to!” Travis gently began to massage his shoulders. “But it’ll probably be easier if you get some rest. Look after your brain, y’know. My dad always told me that less than 7 hours a night can ruin your performance.”

 

“...Really?” Chaz went silent for a second, running the idea of being thrown off his game through his mind disapprovingly, but his desire to work on the upcoming show won. “I mean, cool, but I wanna spend all the time I can on this-” 

 

With that, he found himself being (carefully) dragged off the chair and lifted up by the blonde, who made sure to turn the light off and carry him over to his bed. For good measure, he fell next to him, his arm clutching the other close to him like a protective cage. Chaz attempted to escape his grip, but ended up being too tired to do anything but get one of his own arms out. 

 

“Whatever,” He mumbled, muffled after nuzzling into the other boy’s chest. “You’re so not extreme.” 

 

Travis smiled down at the boy, and hugged him tighter, replying with a soft: “I know...”

 

 

The setting was quiet for a moment, before Chaz began to get restless. He wriggled out of his boyfriend’s grasp and moved up to his face- Travis could notice the vague outline of a playful smirk on his face, illuminated by the gold glow of an array of street lights just outside the dorms. 

 

“Hey, Travis?”

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“I dunno, just...” He leant forward and pressed a small kiss against the blonde’s cheek. “I love ya. A lot, man. An extreme amount.” 

 

Travis felt his face heat up at the contact and smiled, leaning forward as well to softly connect their lips, moving his hand from the boy’s back to his face, cupping his cheek, refusing to pull away for a few seconds. Chaz pulled away, taking a deep breath and smiling, before kissing him again, the feeling of the other boy’s lips on his causing warm tingles to run through his body; these only became more prominent when he felt Travis gently lick Chaz’s lips- the redhead took this as an opportunity to slightly part them and let his partner explore the inside of his mouth with his tongue.

If he was being honest, this was the first time he’d tongue-kissed anybody, but Travis definitely knew what he was doing... and it felt really nice. Chaz let out a quiet and muffled moan of content before wrapping his arms around the taller boy and pulling him closer. Once Travis pulled away again, Chaz found himself a little out of breath, most likely from the excitement, yet still was more than able to breathe out a whisper.

 

“That was... extreme...” Travis laughed a little in response, the hand cupping Chaz’s face gently running down from his neck to his waist. 

 

“Good to know- it was ok, right? You’re a really good kisser.”

 

“You mean i- I mean, hell yeah I am! I’ve had experience, did you really expect any less than the most extreme?”

 

Travis smiled fondly again and pushed their foreheads together. “Stop saying extreme.”

 

 

Chaz buried his head into Travis’ collarbone and the pair stayed like that for another minute, peace washing over them as they laid in the low light of the dorm... now they finally were given some time to themselves through all the bustle and drama of the party, Chaz finally started to cherish the time they had together: Travis was really warm, and his arms held a firm but soft grasp on him- he was a really good cuddler. It was like his head fit perfectly in the blonde’s neck and the quiet breaths of the boy combined with his steady heartbeat was almost like a perfect little lullaby.

But Chaz wasn’t exactly ready to sleep yet. The night wasn’t extreme enough.

With no warning, the shorter boy ran his tongue from Travis’ collar bone to his jaw, creating an array of shocked jitters from him.

 

“D-dude-” Travis gasped, his eyes snapping open and face heating up again as he felt Chaz start to nibble on his jawline.

The redhead smiled to himself, brushing his lips against the boys neck, then gently biting down on it: not enough to hurt him, but enough to generate a reaction.

 

“Are you okay?” The stuntman asked, a flirtatious tone definitely present in his voice. “It good?”

 

“Y-yeah, it is...” 

 

Chaz accepted this invitation to bite down more on his boyfriend’s neck and shoulders (and the parts of his chest he could reach), gently sucking some lower points of this area that would be covered by his shirt in order to leave a mark: the gentle light from outside displayed the sight of a few light red patches on Travis’ upper chest, which Chaz had to say made him a little proud. Especially with the addition of the blonde’s heavy breathing and the few muffled moans he’d let out during the action, but now it seemed he’d become tired of the layout of the situation.

 

“Hey man,” He took Chaz’s hand in his own and smiled. “Is it okay if I have a go now?” 

 

Chaz breathlessly nodded, allowing the blonde to flip him over so that he was on his back, looking up at the boy who was straddling him with a half loving, half mischievous smile. He traced Chaz’s collarbone with his finger, running it down to his chest and finally brought it under the white vest he used as a pyjama top and pulled it over his head, keeping it wrapped around his hands so he didn’t have a clear ability to move his arms from above his head. Chaz instantly felt his cheeks start to burn- he wasn’t exactly sure what Travis would have done, but that was not what he expected. Still, it wasn’t to say he didn’t like it, there was only one problem:

 

“Hey, watch it, asshole- I’m not a bottom.”

 

He could almost feel the other boy’s disagreement hit him in the face. “You sure about that, huh?” Travis asked, moving his hand down to his waist, making Chaz squirm a little, his blush spreading to his shoulders. 

 

“Y-yes. 110%” He looked up at Travis with wide, anticipating eyes; clearly he didn’t believe what he was saying either. 

 

“If you say so, dude...” Travis lowered himself over the other boy to get closer to his face. “I guess we’ll just have to see how this goes then, won’t we?” Chaz bit his lip, averting his eyes.

 

“I-I guess so...” 

 

The blonde couldn’t help but release a gentle laugh at his boyfriend, and softly asked him one more question:

 

“Hey, if we’re gonna do this, can we make sure we don’t stay up for ages? I don’t wanna sleep in and be late for school.”

 

“Ugh, fine.”

 

 

***

 

 

A piercing ringing finally shook Travis awake from his unusually deep sleep, the sunlight pouring in from the gaps between the blinds and shining onto him and the boy curled up in the blankets, fast asleep next to him. He looked down at him with a fond smile and ran a hand through his hair, the softness of it and the way a bedhead made him look so cute being his primary focuses, until he sat up and turned around to see the digital alarm clock that was still screaming at him. 

 

 

11:36AM

 

It would have been around halfway through 3rd period by now.

 

 

“SHIT!” Travis scrambled out of the warmth of the covers and climbed over Chaz, waking him up in the process. Unfortunately, he was too tied up in desperately preparing for the (rest of the) day to worry about it. Slowly, the redhead turned around, rubbing one of his eyes and looked down at the other boy, unimpressed.

 

“What the hell man, I was sleeping?”

 

“You have to get up.”

 

Chaz let out a reluctant groan and rolled over into his back, running a hand down his face. “Naaah...”

 

“It’s half eleven, dude. We’ve missed most our classes.” Travis didn’t stop pulling clothes out of his drawers to address him. 

 

“Mm... I’m just gonna say I was sick or something- tell them that for me, yeah?” He half-opened one of his eyes to look at the blonde. “You can say you were lookin’ after me: it’s win:win!”

 

“I’m not gonna lie to our teachers, Chaz.” Travis began pulling his pyjamas off, replacing them with a new outfit as fast as he could. 

 

“Would you rather tell them the truth?” 

 

“...” The blonde’s lack of a response gave Chaz an answer anyway, and he smirked, relaxing back into the bed. 

 

 

All it took was a few more minutes for Travis to get ready, and before he headed out the door, he walked over to his boyfriend again and pressed a kiss against his forehead; his eyes fluttered open again and he gave the blonde a tiny smile. 

“You sure you want me to tell them you’re sick?”

Chaz modded.

 

“Yeah man, they’ll probably buy it...”

 

“And if they don’t?”

 

“Well then it’s my problem, you don’t have to worry about it, babe,” He sat up for the first time of the day and pulled travis down by the sleeve of his shirt and quickly kissed him on the lips. “You can tell Summer the truth if you want. I’m definitely bragging about it to her.”

 

“God,” Travis rolled his eyes, though a light pink blush crept across his cheeks. “Why are you like this?”

 

“Just extreme, I guess...” Chaz gave Travis’ hand one final squeeze before he pulled away. “Have a nice day bro, I love you.”

 

“Love you too!” Travis called back as he ran through the door; Chaz could hear his footsteps pounding through the hall gently becoming fainter, and he sighed, getting up and walking back towards the desk he’d been glued to the previous night: Travis had been right about a little break helping him. It was sudden, but a wave of motivation began to overcome him- he really wanted this show, the first show for which he’d been with Travis for, to be his most intense and interesting yet.

 

In that moment, he promised himself that by the end of it, Travis would be at least 3x more in love with him. 


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HATE THIS CHAPTER SO MUCH ITS BASICALLY JUST FILLER I PROMISE ILL GET A BETTER CHAPTER OUT SOON anyway yeah uh these mans Gay

“There you are!”

 

The excitement on the pair’s face was obvious from a distance as they watched the boy run up to them, his appearance clearly more rushed than usual but nonetheless a happy glow surrounding him. He was clutching a small backpack crammed with paper and utensils in no orderly fashion, which was very unlike him.

 

“Trav, where have you been?” Liberty looked up at him, clutching onto Summer’s arm who shot him a playful grin: he wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d already been in contact with his boyfriend. “This isn’t like you.” She added, looking him up and down. 

 

“You look happy- sleep well?” Summer inquired.

 

“Well, I just...” Travis attempted to catch his breath and talk at the same time. “I... Chaz is feeling sick today so I... I stayed back at our dorm to look after him.”

 

“Aww...” Liberty said, pulling the cheerleader closer to her. Summer raised an eyebrow at him, the smile still apparent on her face.

 

“Chaz actually texted me a minute ago: he’s planning his next stunt show, right?” The blonde brought her phone out of her pocket and scrolled through the conversation, tilting the screen away from Liberty’s eyes slightly. “This sounds like an important one to him...”

 

“It is?”

 

“Yeah, man... He sounds, like, really excited.”

 

“I mean...” Liberty tried to peer over at the text conversation before Summer switched it off, turning back to the brunette. “He’s excited about all his stunts, isn’t he?”

 

“Yeah, but I think this one’s  dedicated to someone...” Summer sang, teasingly clasping her hands together and bringing them up to the side of her face in a mocking pose.

 

“No way.” Travis smiled as a pink tint painted his face, nervously scratching the back of his head and began to walk to 4th period as the bell rang; at least he was able to make it to this lesson. 

 

The group made their way to the science block together, their conversations blending into the rumbling of voices waiting in the corridor. Unfortunately, the group was forced to split up, leaving Liberty to go to her class and Travis and Summer to get to their own- which gave the cheerleader a good opening for interrogation.

 

“I’m just guessing that Chaz isn’t actually sick?” The girl asked, tilting her head as she sat down next to the boy, an innocent smile on her face. 

 

“Uh... I mean, there’s no point in actually denying it, is there?” Travis responded, only shooting Summer a small glance of acknowledgement as he quietly pulled out his phone. “He’s obviously been talking to you already- you said so.”

 

“Yeeaaah... he loved being with you last night, by the way. Dunno if you knew: he’s literally been gushing about you all morning.” Summer giggled, rummaging through her pencil case as the boy’s ears pricked up. 

 

“He has?” 

 

“Pfft, yeah. He always does,  all  the time,” Summer showed him her phone screen, lighting up with excited messages from the boy they were talking about. “Honestly, if he actually told you some of this stuff you’d be sooo married.” Travis rested his chin in his hand, smiling.

 

“Why is his name in your phone “Ginger Bitch”, Summer?” The girl shrugged.

 

“Funny.” 

 

 

As soon as their fellow classmates began pouring in and surrounding them in their seats, the pair decided it was best if they tone down the conversation on the boy’s affection for each other and just focus on the work they were given for now. The only hints of communication they shared for the first few minutes was a few subtle moments of eye contact and grins, until Travis was addressed by the students on the other side of him.

 

“Hey, Travis?” A small whisper grasped the attention of both Summer and Travis, who turned to see the small, blue-haired boy they’d only just seen yesterday looking up at them with his big blue eyes. “Um... I...” He lowered his voice again in order to keep the information a secret from his fellow unaware classmates. “I just... wanted to say that, well... thanks again for helping me out with... um... B.” The blonde boy hadn’t heard Tim refer to his sort-of boyfriend as this before, but it was simple enough to deduce from the way his face became tinted with crimson and he timidly bit his nails with a smile. 

 

“Hey, no problem, man.” Travis made sure to match the boy’s volume, shooting him a soft grin. 

 

“I, uh, I would thank Chaz too, but...” He looked at the empty seat for a moment, before opening his mouth again. “Well... can’t right now- I was wondering if you could just... tell him it was really cool of him to do that, and that, if he wants me to, I’ll help him with his new stunt?” 

 

“Oh, yeah!” Travis remained quiet, but his eyes lit up at the request. “Of course I will- he’ll be so happy to hear that from you.” 

 

Travis turned back to his work, but behind him, Summer could definitely make out a flushed tint of pink pride on Tim’s face, and she couldn’t help but feel a strong wave of second-hand joy, but also slight confusion. Replaying a few of the past days in her mind, it struck her that Chaz had been seemingly getting to be more and more of a romantic? Well, that was one way to put it, at least... he just seemed softer? The girl shook her head at this thought- it was probably just because he was getting closer to Travis; it was really good he was starting to actually seem like a real person other than some “extreme image of one”. Sure, it wasn’t her business, but Summer was curious of if there really was something aiding his happiness... maybe she’d talk to him after class?

With this thought, she ducked her head down and simply continued to take notes.

 

***

 

It seemed as if the day almost raced by (Summer deduced that it was most likely because of her reconnection with Liberty- after all, each lesson and every task was easier with the thought of her as assistance) and the blonde was excited to see how her friend was doing back in his dorm: she knew that he was familiar with bunking off of school, but could never really find anything good to do with his time other than focus on stunts, which is what she’d predicted he’d be doing- and she was right. Except when she first saw his situation, she couldn’t help but be a bit taken aback. In the split second after managing to open the dorm’s door, she noticed about three pads’ worth of paper strewn across the floor, with Chaz himself sitting in his bed with the covers pulled over his head like a hood, scribbling into a notebook with eyes that screamed with frustration.

 

“Woah, dude- feeling better?”

 

“NO!” Chaz wailed, not even bothering to greet the cheerleader as she came in and started to gather the scrap paper on the floor. “DON’T LOOK AT THOSE-”

 

“Dude...” Summer looked at him sympathetically, arms full of scrunched up trash. “I won’t, okay? I’m just gonna try and get this place less messy...” She tossed them into the waste paper basket next to the room’s desk. “Speaking of which, have you got out of bed all day?”

 

“No- well- kinda. Almost...” The blonde sighed as she walked over to him, yanking the blanket off him and straightening it the best she could, before climbing into it and sitting opposite him, cross-legged. “Well, not really: but this is  important.”  The boy tilted his scribble-filled notebook towards the girl and groaned. “I can’t think, Summer. Of anything. And I’ve already promised people this show’s gonna be my most extreme yet!”

 

“Uhh... well, what have you thought of so far?”

 

“I dunno: fire, water, smoke machines... stuff like that?” The boy lowered his head and muttered. “I don’t know if Trav likes that stuff though...”

 

“Aww, I  knew  this show was for Travis!”

 

“N-NO ITS NOT I JUST...” Chaz snapped, his face heating up at his roommates name. “I... want him to like it, at least.” 

 

“You wanna do something special for him because you  love  him!” Her mocking smile disappeared when she noticed the disheartened flash in his eyes. “Aw, no, I’m sorry...” She moved closer to the boy and placed her hand on his shoulder. “You know he’s always so totally impressed by the stuff you do, don’t you? Like, you’ve said it yourself: everyone’s impressed by you... and to be honest, I think Trav’s already at the top of that list. As long as you get on that bike and don’t die, he’s gonna think you’re absolutely incredible,” She noticed the boy’s tiny grin. “Just like he already does!” Chaz didn’t say anything, but she noticed the regular light in his expression return. “We’re going to Cedella’s again, by the way. You coming?”

 

“Uh, sure!”

 

Chaz looked up at her and smiled, shifting around in the bed to get a better, more comfortable position. Summer drew her hand away from the boy’s shoulder as he did so, allowing him to get up from the same place he’d been in all day. As she watched Chaz gather up his messy stunt ideas, she suddenly recalled the earlier conversation between Tim and Travis. 

 

“Oh, by the way, Tim says thanks for helping him get with... uh... B?”

 

“Really?” Chaz replied, getting up and stretching as he made his way towards his closet. “Aww, thats nice of him.”

 

“Yeah, it was,” She ran through her brain on whether or not she was aware of “B’s” identity, but shook it off in order to tell Chaz the other news: “He also says he’s down to help you plan your stunts, if you need it.” 

 

“Hey, that’s weird, I was actually thinking of asking him!” Chaz had a black and white hoodie and a pair of jeans slung over his arm, and Summer pulled out her phone as he got changed, not wanting to appear as if she was staring. “He actually helped me plan a few of my shows a while ago- he’s, like, one of my team now.”

 

“Seriously? I didn’t know that, man...” Summer has always been fairly certain the primary initiative of his stunts was all Chaz’s own. “Well... he said that if you ever need his help you can just text him- you have his number, right?”

 

“Yeah,” Chaz told her, muffled by pulling the hoodie over his head. “I’ll probably do that- his ideas are always like... really weird, they just somehow manage to work?”

 

Summer smiled at the boy as he turned to her, stretching again and grabbing his phone from the bedside table. “Well, that just means they’re original!”

 

“I guess...” Chaz glanced down at the screen for a second and smiled- the girl could only predict that his boyfriend had been texting him. “Anyway, okay, I’m ready now.”

 

***

 

The walk to Cedella’s had been brisk and pleasant, but it was definitely a relief to step into the building’s warmth: it had been colder than usual outside today. Summer immediately spotted Liberty waving to her from the corner of the cafe, Travis sitting next to her and making friendly conversation with a couple of girls seated at a different table. Chaz didn’t hesitate to show his disapproval of that.

Before he could begin ranting on something unproblematic, the cheerleader took him by his sleeve and led him to the table, her sitting next to Liberty and Chaz shuffling up to Travis, shooting the girls a skeptical glare, even though it was obvious he was only talking about exams and nothing more. 

 

“Hi!” Liberty chimed, placing her hand next to Summer’s and overlapping their pinkies. “I was starting to think you weren’t coming.”

 

“Oh, no- I promised you, Lib!” The blonde grinned at the girl, wrapping her finger around the other girl’s and moving closer so that their heads were nearly touching. “Hey, Trav!”

 

The taller boy swivelled his head round at the sudden realisation that the two others had arrived. “Oh- hey!” He put his arm around his boyfriend, whose face remained flatly annoyed. “Hi, babe, you ok? How was your day?” He buries his face lightly in Chaz’s hair, slightly messing it up, and pulled him closer. He still didn’t smile, but his face became a faint shade of pink. 

 

“Fine,” Chaz muttered. “Who was that?” 

 

“Uh, yeah, I was wondering that too?” Summer chimed in, trying to distract from the redhead’s instant negative tone. 

 

“Oh- they’re just girls from my photography class. We were just talking about exams...” He nervously scratched the back of his head. “I-I’m gonna be honest, guys. I don’t think I’m ready.”

 

“I don’t think any of us feel like we are...” Liberty told him, tilting her head, sympathetic towards his concern. 

 

“Well... maybe, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t done nearly enough studying- like...” He sighed, running a hand through his hair; the boy in his arms turned around to face him and wrap his arms around him too (it wasn’t out of place for him to hold minute-long grudges, so Travis was unphased by his actions). “It’s, what, like a few weeks until they’re here, and I’ve only gone over the topics twice! I’m gonna forget EVERYTHING!” 

 

“Calm down, you baby,” Chaz ordered, his arms grasping the boy slightly harder. “You’ll be fine: I haven’t studied at all!”

 

“You... probably should...” Liberty began. “I was looking through my notes before you got here, actually.”

 

“Honestly, Trav,” Summer leaned forward and propped her head up with her arm, elbow resting on the table. “You’ll be okay. You’ve done way more than anybody I know!”

 

“What about, like, Ian. And Amelia and Makoto and whatever?”

 

“I’ve actually never seen Makoto study in my life?” Liberty piped up, one eyebrow raised. 

 

“Well, you get my point- I’m gonna fail so hard compared to them.” With this, he let his head fall onto the table, and Chaz gently began to stroke his back in an attempt at comfort.

 

“Aw, Trav, you’re still gonna do amazing!” Summer chirped, secretly eyeing the drinks menu at the same time. “You can’t be thinking about anybody else.”

 

“My dad is gonna GROUND ME!” He wailed, still face-down on the table. His boyfriend sighed and did his best to straighten him up in his chair, giving him a small smile as he did so.

 

“Don’t worry about him; you’ve still gonna inherit his business no matter what happens, right?”

 

“Gold digger.” Summer playfully mouthed at him, Chaz shooting her a scrunched up glare in response.

 

“That’s... not really how it works at all- and anyway, I’m not worried about that, I don’t wanna let him down,” He looked at his friends faces for a split second- then added a little more. “And myself, I guess.” 

 

“You don’t, honestly think you’re gonna let him down, right?” Liberty asked. “You’re already getting straight As, right?”

 

“Uh, yeah,” Travis scratched the back of his head, finally allowing himself to accept the reassurance. “Whatever- I’m just gonna study more.”

 

“Kay. Well, I’m not. I have better stuff to worry about,” Chaz tolls them confidently, resting his elbows on the table. “I don’t even care about the exams- I’m just hyped for the show I have for after them- it’s gonna he the most extreme thing you’ve ever seen, man!”

 

Travis smiled at him, and Summer noticed a tiny red tint show up on his cheeks. 

 

“Is it really? You finally managed to plan it?” The blonde boy asked, placing his hand on his boyfriend’s. The cheerleader raised her eyebrows and smirked at Chaz: it was almost funny to see the way his level of confidence shifted around his boyfriend... perhaps making himself seem more level-headed just emphasised how much he wanted to impress him.

 

“Pfft, totally.” The smaller boy rolled his eyes confidently.

 

“Well, I’m gonna love it. It’ll be incredible.” Travis told him, pulling him closer, Chaz pressing the side of his head into the blonde’s neck. 

 

 

The girls simply glanced at the pair, smiling, both knowing how much this show meant to the boy: as far as they knew, Chaz was intending to do something really special... but then again, no one but him could be sure. They shot each other a glance, before Liberty tilted her head and smiled at the group. 

 

“So, uh... you guys know what you’re gonna order?”


End file.
